Lots of interesting news about the pros this week.
VeloNews reported that Horner, ‘Chechu’ and Gusev sign with Astana. Chris Horner is a household favorite, and if anyone can lift Astana out of the doldrums, it’s Chris. He’s eternally effervescent and has an infectious love for cycling, even after turning himself inside out for his team. In case you missed it during last year’s Tour de France, VeloNews posted daily video interviews with Chris and Dave Zabriskie (until Dave dropped). In contrast to most other riders who give relatively incoherent 15-second interviews, Chris bubbled on and on about the gruesome details of the Tour, and provided amazing insight into the strategy and dynamics of each stage. Hopefully we’ll see more interviews with Chris this year.
VeloNews also provided a hint that maybe Trek will go to Astana as well. This relationship would be the final piece that would effectively turn Astana into a resurrected Discovery team.
The news that really caught my eye, though, was the announcement of team Slipstream-Chipotle presented by H30. Aside from the fact that their name is too long, they’ve assembled an impressive roster including David Millar, Magnus Backstedt, Dave Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Matt White and lead-out man Julian Dean. And in a week of demoralizing doping news about Barry Bonds and Marion Jones (and cycling is dirty???), check this out:
While an invite to the Tour de France is this team’s biggest goal for the season, they see an even bigger opportunity – to lead the sport we love out of the dark and into the light. During the team presentation and short video about the team, many comments were made by the riders about the amazing chemistry and camaraderie they feel on the team and the audience could feel it too. Sure, these guys want to win races and can kill you eight ways to Sunday, so don’t worry, you will be seeing lots of Argyle on the podium for years to come. But what the audience was feeling was that it’s safe to believe again, and these guys know that is their ultimate mission – to save the sport of cycling for the world to continue to enjoy.
Jonathan Vaughters revealed the secret weapon in Slipstream’s approach to ensure clean riding on their team – changing the context of the sport from “win at all costs” to accepting defeat and embracing humanity, then racing and winning as much as possible. (Emphasis added.)
What a concept!
While the addition of Chris Horner to Astana is exciting, Slipstream-Chipotle presented by H30 is the team to watch next season.
