February 14/08 8:36 am - Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast Announces Tour of California Roster

Posted by Editor on 02/14/08
 

Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast Announces Tour of California Roster

Few teams can claim such a meteoric rise as the Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast pro cycling team. A year ago Jonas Carney was grabbing the reigns of a brand new team with a lot of goals. Fast forward 12 months and he's leading many of those same athletes plus some high performance new additions to the Amgen Tour of California.

The roster announced today includes Andrew Bajadali, winner of the 2007 Redlands Classic and Alex Candelario, overall winner of the Tour de Nex last season. Canadian Keven Lacombe, Dan Bowman and Jonny Sundt will also ride in the Tour, plus three riders injured in 2007 and now racing stronger and faster than ever: Reid Mumford, Justin Spinelli and Nick Waite.

"We're here to make a mark," says Performance Director, Jonas Carney from the Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast team training camp in California. "In one short year we've gone from being an unknown team to competing in the Tour of California. That kind of success really validates what we are doing as a program and a team. Our athletes are ready, highly trained and fired up. We're in California to race not watch."

Joining Carney to help call the shots will be Ken Mills, newly appointed performance manager for the team. Mills will assist with all race logistics and team preparation throughout the Tour and the 2008 race season. A guest DS with the squad in 2007, Mills joins full time to keep the athletes on task for a packed race calendar.

Key sponsors Kelly Benefit Strategies, Medifast, Inc. and Materials Processing Corporation will all be roadside in California, watching the action, according to title sponsor John Kelly:

"We had a huge first season for any team anywhere, " says Kelly, title sponsor and president, Kelly Benefit Strategies, one of the country's leading health benefits brokers and consultants. "We won the USPRO Criterium Championship overall in Downer's Grove - the only first year team in history, we think, to do that and had riders on podiums throughout the last part of the season. But that was last year. We're here to make a big mark in 2008: new guys in the lineup, a full, healthy roster and one of the strongest performance directors on the North American Circuit today."