September 27/07 6:14 am - Canadian Team and Rider Updates, Photo of Team Canada at Worlds

Posted by Editoress on 09/27/07
 

Road World Championships Stuttgart, Germany

Coverage sponsored by Norco

Team Updates

This is the time of year when riders begin to set up their team plans for the following season. Here at the world Championships, we have heard of a few moves on the Canadian scene:

- The women's squad Expresscopy.com is officially defunct; the last race was Altoona in early August. Many of the riders have found new squads for next season, with Anne Samplonius going to Cheerwine, and Erinne Willock and Gina Grain to Webcor. Alex Wrubleski will leave Colavita-Sutter Home to join Willock and Grain at Webcor. Webcor is apparently going to make a big push to do a substantial portion of the World Cup circuit, and will register as a UCI trade team.

- Francois Parisien will join Symmetrics, after a number of riders were let go by Slipstream as it makes the jump to the Euro big leagues and signed a number of Euro pros. Ryan Anderson, who was previously reported to have signed with Symmetrics, says that the deal is still 'pending'.

- With the dissolution of Kodakgallery-Sierra Nevada, both Dominique Rollin and Mark Walters are looking for new squads. Rollin says that he has a number of possibilities, and hopes to go back to Europe (at a higher level than before). Bradley Fairall is also on the hunt for a new team - he does not plan to return to Europe and hopes to find a North American squad. However, with the loss of Kodakgallery-Sierra Nevada, Navigators and the Slipstream riders who didn't get on the new squad, there are "a lot of guys on the market," said Rollin "so it will be tough."