January 14/08 2:04 am - Cervélo and Cycling United create Team Cervélo-Lifeforce

Posted by Editoress on 01/14/08
 

Cervélo and Cycling United create Team Cervélo-Lifeforce
Courtesy Peter Donato

Gerard Vroomen, Co-founder of Cervélo and Thomas Campana, Team Manager of Cycling United, are pleased to announce the creation of the Cervélo-Lifeforce women’s pro cycling team.

Long-time supporter Lifeforce will stay with the team as co-title sponsor, as will Skoda, the official car of Team Cervélo-Lifeforce, who is onboard until 2009. Bike industry sponsors FSA, Vittoria, Zipp, Speedplay and Fizik, like Cervélo, have all stepped up their engagement for 2008 and signed on for at least a two-year period. From a sponsorship standpoint Team Cervélo-Lifeforce is unique as the first team predominantly supported from inside the industry.

Last year, the Cycling United team was the number one ranked team on the UCI Women's Road World Cup circuit. After they purchased time trial frames from Cervélo, they were so happy with them that they asked Cervélo if they wanted to increase their support.

“Of course we were happy to become more closely involved with the team,” said Gerard Vroomen. “Cervelo has always had great success with female customers, both pro and amateur, thanks to our unique bike geometry*. We are proud that the world’s best female cycling team chooses our bikes, even more so with the addition of longtime Cervélo friend Kristin Armstrong.”

“Our young team has made an impressive start in its first four years of competition. Now, the best women’s team in the world will also be riding the best bike,” said Thomas Campana, who also credits Cervélo geometry. “After our first week with the Cervélos, I called Gerard to ask how it is possible that they fit our female riders so well, when they also fit Team CSC’s men perfectly.”

“I’ve been riding on a Cervélo for a while”, said Kristin Armstrong, 2006 World Champion, “and it was one of the reasons I decided to join this team for 2008. My main goal is the Olympics and I wanted to make sure I have the best possible equipment there.”

“But, it is not just performance that attracted Cervélo to this team,” explains Vroomen. “We are a strong supporter of the most advanced anti-doping program in the world at Team CSC (the same tests now form the basis for the UCI’s “biological passport”). Going forward, we decided we would only support teams that have a similar interest in the fight against doping, which surprisingly, was not met with great enthusiasm by some of the teams looking for sponsorship.

When I asked Thomas, he surprised me by explaining that his team had already been in a monitoring program from a Swiss Olympic-accredited lab for the past two years. It is not quite as extensive as Team CSC’s program, (CSC’s anti-doping program budget eclipses the total budget of Cycling United), but it is very impressive given the size of this team.”

Presenting Team Cervélo-Lifeforce 2008

Kristin Armstrong, USA, TT World Champion 2006
Karin Thürig, Switzerland, TT World Champion 2004 & 2005
Christiane Soeder, Austria, 3rd TT World Championships 2006
Priska Doppmann, Switzerland
Sarah Düster, Germany
Emma Rickards, Australia
Joanne Kiesanowski, New Zealand
Patricia Schwager, Switzerland
Pascale Schnider, Switzerland
Caroline Steffen, Switzerland.