March 7/08 8:39 am - News from the Peloton: VW Drops Trek, McGrath Gets New Sponsor, Bessette Tries Another Sport

Posted by Editor on 03/7/08
 

News from the Peloton: VW Drops Trek, McGrath Gets New Sponsor, Bessette Tries Another Sport

• Quebec's VW-Trek team has changed equipment sponsors, returning to Specialized after many years with Trek. Team Director Josée Robitaille confirmed this for us in an e-mail, and said a full release will come shortly:

"It's a good thing for us. We were with Specialized a long time ago, but when we moved with VW we had to go with Trek because those 2 companies had a commercial partnership. Trek was good for us for many years, but we always had a very good relationship with Specialized when we were a smaller team, they were there for us and had confidence in our program. It's just a natural thing for the team VW to go back with Specialized, it's like coming back home."


• Olympic mountain bike hopeful Seamus McGrath has his sponsorship sorted out just in time for the start of the season. McGrath was with Rocky Mountain last year, but the team decided to downsize, leaving him scrambling at the end of the season. However, now things seem to be falling into place:

I just got things dialed in for 08 - here's the scoop:

A long time friend and arguably the man who has helped Canadian MTB'ing the most of anyone in it's history, Dave Smith, has come on board to support me, along with Fuji Bikes. Dave's company, Shockwave, builds suspension seating for marine applications, so he will be sponsoring me under that logo. Fuji has a European squad, of which I will be a part of for the European World Cups. My other sponsors include Oakley, Shimano Canada, Fox Forks, Easton, Giro, Stan's, Maxxis, Selle Italia [and] Ritchey.


• After Lyne Bessette decided not to race at the Cyclo-cross World Championships in January, we started to wonder whether this constituted retirement for the long time road and 'cross star ... so we asked her. Lyne responded right away:

I am retired from road officially and will not race this summer. As for the rest [ I ] will see when time come. I have a couple new adventures coming with the rallye aicha des gazelles, an only women's orienteering race in Morocco leaving on the 11th of March through the 31st. I will be team #100.

By the way, the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles can be found at www.rallyeaichadesgazelles.com. Bessette and her partner Marie-France Charette will be competing in the 4x4 category in a Toyota Hilux.