Team Garmin-Transitions Partners with Cervélo for 2011 as Felt Opts Out
8/27/10 - Team Garmin-Transitions and Cervélo SA will join forces for the 2011 season to create a new team that will be known as Garmin-Cervélo.
Prior to this announcement Slipstream met with Felt Bicycles, who had the option to continue as the bike sponsor of Garmin-Transitions in 2011. After careful consideration Felt Bicycles chose not to exercise its option.
According to Slipstream Sports: “Felt has been an invaluable partner since the inception of our organization and is truly an exceptional company. Together we achieved quite a bit and we have a tremendous amount of respect and gratitude for the contributions and innovations they have made to our team, organization and to cycling as a whole.”
According to Felt: “Our organizations met in good faith to discuss an extension. After exploring all options, we decided for the good of all parties to move on. We have enjoyed great success over the course of our four-year relationship and we wish the team and its athletes continued success in the future. Felt remains committed to the sport of bicycle racing and the ideal that accompanies professional cycling. Rest assured we will continue to support elite teams and athletes in the future.”
"Slipstream Sports and Cervélo share the key philosophies of developing the next generation of cycling champions and an unwavering commitment to ethical sport," said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports and Director Sportif of Team Garmin-Transitions. "We are happy to work with another company that, like Garmin, so closely shares our goals. We will be adding great talent to an already outstanding roster and we believe the new team will build on past successes and will produce incredibly exciting racing in 2011. The possibilities are endless - on the road and off - and we look forward to what we can achieve."
"As we have often mentioned, our primary goal has always been to have some control over the direction that cycling will take," said Phil White, Cervélo co-founder. "With Slipstream Sports, we share common goals and values. Together we will be in a stronger position to keep moving the sport forward."
Slipstream Sports pioneered the most stringent anti-doping program in all of professional sports and that will continue with Team Garmin-Cervelo. In addition to the new Team Garmin-Cervelo and the Holowesko Partners U23 Development team, Slipstream Sports will, for the first time, also run a professional women's cycling team.
"The fit is a natural one," added Vaughters. "We've wanted to become stronger in the Classics and we're confident that we'll come into 2011 with one of the strongest Classics line-ups in the peloton. Beyond that, we are extremely excited to create a very good women's program."
"In our eight years in pro cycling, we have seen the many possibilities cycling offers," concludes White. "The very positive response to a focus on more than just racing has been great. The emphasis we have had on product R&D since 2003 will be integrated into the new team's routine as well.
Transitions Optical is expecting to continue its sponsorship, pending final agreement, evolving into the Official Lens Supplier.
The creation of the new team is still under development. More information, including official team rosters, will become available in the October timeframe.
