Zvonurile apărute în timpul USA Pro Cycling Challenge (atenţie, deşi e tot un tur ciclist al statului Colorado, oficial nu este Turul Colorado – cum a fost prezentat la noi – competiţia Tour of Colorado fiind organizată de altcineva) privind fuziunea echipelor RadioShack-Nissan şi Leopard-Trek s-au adeverit, luni, 5 septembrie 2011, ambele echipe anunţând în siteurile proprii această decizie.
Potrivit declaraţie echipei luxemburgheze: „Leopard announces that RadioShack and Nissan are joining the Leopard-Trek World Tour Team as sponsors for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Leopard will continue to hold its existing UCI World Tour License. The team will be rebranded as RadioShack-Nissan-Trek Professional Cycling Team as of next year”.
Declaraţia RadioShack aduce informaţii suplimentare: „As announced earlier today, CSE Pro Cycling LLC is proud to announce that RadioShack and Nissan are joining the Leopard-Trek World Tour Team as sponsors for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The team will hold a license in Luxembourg and be named the RadioShack-Nissan-Trek Professional Cycling Team. All marketing operations will be operated out of Austin, Texas by CSE Pro Cycling LLC. All sporting operations will be managed by Johan Bruyneel Sports Management in both Belgium and Luxembourg”.
De asemenea, noua echipă va continua să susţină Livestrong, fundaţia de luptă împotriva cancerului a marelui cilcist Lance Armstrong, cel pentru care a fost înfiinţată echipa. De altfel, siteul echipei RadioShack este găzduit de siteul fundaţiei.
Deocamdată au fost anunţaţi doar câţiva dintre ciclişti, lista completă a celor 30 de componenţi urmând a fi făcută publică în 15 septembrie:
„►Key Riders on the Team will be: Time trial World Champion Fabian Cancellara; Andy and Fränk Schleck, the second and third place finishers at the 2011 Tour de France; Tour of California Champion Chris Horner; two-time Tour de France runner-up Andreas Klöden; respective national champions Matthew Busche, Jani Brajkovic, Nelson Oliveira and Robert Wagner; standout neo-pros Jesse Sergent and Ben King; all-around powers Jakob Fuglsang and Haimar Zubeldia; and sprinter Daniele Bennati.
►The staff and roster will be a combination from the current formations. Further details and specifics will be released by September 15th”, potrivit siteul RadioShack. Tot de-acolo aflăm şi părerea directorului sportiv Bruyneel: „«With our sponsors’ continuing commitment and the professionalism of our riders, I’m confident that RadioShack-Nissan-Trek will dominate cycling for years to come», said Johan Bruyneel. «With Team RadioShack, we won 30 races and dominated the most important American races in 2011. Now thanks to the presence of riders like Fabian Cancellara and the Schleck brothers, we have the potential to win not only Classics and major stage races but Grand Tours as well. We will form a team of 30 riders, in regulation with the UCI rules. All contracts with riders and staff that are already signed with Team Leopard-Trek or Team RadioShack will be respected. We are grateful our sponsors believe in this project. This is a great milestone for our team and our global sport.»”
La fel de încântat se arată şi Flavio Becca, patronul echipei luxemburgheze, care este considerat iniţiatorul acestei fuziuni: „As we stated in January, 2011 would be our apprentice-year. We intend to improve upon our results. In modern cycling you cannot move forward without strong sponsors. It is in this respect that today is a further milestone in the development of this exciting young project, which has gained the trust of two well-established players in the world of professional cycling. I continue to believe in the bright future of our athletes and have high expectations for the performance of this team. This is a major strategic move for all partners involved.”
După cum se vede, nici o vorbă despre principalul rutier al RadioShack, americanul Levi Leipheimer, despre care se spune că va merge la nou-înfiinţata Omega-Pharma-Quick Step. Velonews susţine că: „Leipheimer told VeloNews in an e-mail Wednesday (n. Silpres – 31 august) that he would not comment on his future until everything was finalized.”
Florin Silea
