December 6/05 10:14 am - New Team for Lemieux and Grain, HealthNet Signs New Bike Sponsor for 2006

Posted by Editoress on 12/6/05
 

Lemieux and Grain to Colavita Cooking Light

20 year old Audrey Lemieux will join Sue Palmer-Komar and Gina Grain on the Colavita Cooking Light team for 2006.

At the end of 2005 Quark Cycling merged with Colavita to form one team.


North America’s Fastest Team… Just got Faster

After piling up 31 wins and 68 podium placings in 63 days of NRC racing in 2005; after an unprecedented sweep of Wachovia week, including the USPRO Championship; after winning both the NRC and UCI Americas Tour team titles, how could the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis possibly get any faster?

With a ride from Cannondale.

On December 5, 2005, at an event at Helen’s Bikes in Santa Monica, CA, the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation announced a three-year sponsorship agreement with Momentum Sports Group, owner and operator of North America’s top team. The event – which saw Health Net Presented by Maxxis riders Gord Fraser, Mike Sayers, Scott Moninger, Nathan O’Neill and Kirk O’Bee, delivered to the front door in a limo, complete with red carpet treatment – drew more than 200 attendees.

“We’re extremely excited that Health Net Presented by Maxxis will be riding Cannondale for the next three years,” said Cannondale CEO Matt Mannelly. “We never compromise when it comes to performance and this team shares that philosophy.”

The team’s directeur sportif, Jeff Corbett, was equally enthusiastic about the partnership. “There’s no question that Cannondales are the finest bikes on the road,” Corbett said. “They achieve the elusive combination of being light, stiff and comfortable, so our sprinters and stage racers alike will feel right at home on them.”

Veteran sprinter Fraser echoed those thoughts. “I hadn’t ridden a Cannondale before, but they had a reputation for being really strong and stiff, but good for long days in the saddle. After riding one of the new Six13 Team bikes for the last month, it’s obvious that all the good things I heard are true. It climbs and sprints exactly the way I want it too. It’s one incredible machine!”

The new sponsorship came about in part through a long-standing relationship between Corbett and Cannondale, which was the bike sponsor for Corbett’s 7Up-Maxxis teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s. “I’m really excited to be back in the Cannondale family. They have always been responsive to team input and I’m confident our rides are going to be more dialed than ever for ‘06.” Corbett added.

“This team is going to play a major role in helping us launch several key products in 2006,” said Mannelly. Cannondale will use the partnership to help test and refine new product, both in training and race conditions. “Starting in January we’re getting these guys out to our factory and into a Wind Tunnel. We’re going to do everything we can to keep them on top.”

In addition to Six13 frames and forks, Cannondale will provide CAAD 8 Optimo frames and forks, as well as new time trial frames and forks. The agreement also calls for Cannondale and sister company Diadora to provide kit, shoes and casual apparel for the team.