June 8/12 16:05 pm - PureBlack Racing To Race BC Superweek & Gastown Grand Prix

Posted by Editoress on 06/8/12
 

PureBlack Racing, New Zealand’s top road cycling team, will travel 11,000 kilmetres to Vancouver this summer to take on North America’s best riders at BC Superweek (July 6-15) and the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix presented by Allstream on July 11th.

Launched in 2010 with the aim of becoming New Zealand’s first international UCI ProTour road cycling team, PureBlack has been racing on the UCI Asia Tour this year with notable successes, including Michael Torckler’s victory at the inaugural Tour of Borneo, Louis Crosby’s stage win at the Tour of Thailand and a tenth place on GC for Joseph Cooper at the Tour of Langkawi.

The team that will be travelling to North America includes Roman van Uden (Captain), Joseph Cooper, Louis Crosby, Taylor Gunman, James McCoy, Michael Torckler and James Williamson. Roman van Uden is already a veteran of BC Superweek, having raced here with Oregon’s Team Rubicon.

As a past Director Sportif for teams such as Atlas Cold Storage/Italpasta, PureBlack DS John Harris also knows BC Superweek and Gastown well.

"I am really excited to be bringing this squad to one of the biggest little races in North America,” said Harris. “The technical nature of the race results in a fantastic spectacle, and we’re bringing the right guys to the line to bring home the bacon. This block of racing will help us build the foundation to win over in Australia.”

During their time in Canada, PureBlack Racing will also be racing the Tour de Beauce in Quebec and the CHIN Picnic Criterium in Ontario.

New Zealand riders have a great history in Gastown, where we’ve had riders from Wanganui, Tauranga, Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch, Cambridge, Nelson, Rotorua, Dunedin and Te Awamutu.

New Zealand Olympians Max Grace won the race in 1974 (and finished second in 1973 and third in 1975) and Gary Anderson won the race in 1987. On the women’s side, recent New Zealand teams to race here have included Bike New Zealand and the Jazz Apple cycling team.

Press release