Written by California Mist at 12:43 15/11-2013
Over the past couple of weeks, California Mist, the cycling team from the West Coast of USA, has gone under some major changes. The renowned sprinting setup has been sold off, and been replaced by a hill setup, with USA nationality riders. It’s been reported unofficially that this change has come about due to a change of sponsorship, and were here today to spread light on the situation. I’m joined here by team manager Knotts, who will answer any questions any of you may have, after this press release has been conducted.
The recent news reports are correct, and we have signed a contract with national clothing brand, based here in this great state, Cal’Rep. In the terms of the deal, they will supply the team with a new team kit and in return they will get branding on all team branding, and there merchandise will be available to buy at race meetings around the world and on our website. We hope this long standing contract will enable us to reach new heights within the cycling world, and are happy to have them on board.
It is also true that the changes were down to this, with them wanting a team of national based riders to represent them. We were fairly easily persuaded, as we were already thinking about a change of team focus. The decision to change to hills was based purely on what riders were available a few weeks ago, and overall were happy with it as enables us to expand into climbing in the next couple of seasons, and even compete for GC honours in tours, something we haven’t been able to do since being in FOW and getting that 2nd place.
Now to introduce our new riders:
Firstly we have brought in American Legend Giovanni Faulk from Die Tour Phantome. He was surplus to requirements in Holland, and was made available. We quickly moved to snap up the experienced rider, and are pleased he wanted to come and be a part of this new setup. He has agreed a contract which will see him ride for us for the rest of his career, and also coach young riders for us. We welcome his experience to the team, and hope he will have more results in his illustrious career. We can officially confirm today, he will have 1 more chance at Cymru Taith next year where he will ride in TF. He’s going on holiday next week; to make sure he’s in perfect shape for the start of next season.
After Faulk, we raided fellow US team SpeedyB for their trained riders. We know they have a good training base there and were very happy to see they were interested in selling off the whole team, rather shockingly. After speaking to the manager there, we soon discovered it was due to a lack of races being available inn his division.
Gerald Osgood joined first, and is another rider who will also be a coach for the young riders, while continuing to race as a teammate. Also joining is long term team captain Jonathan Bullock. He will ride in support of Faulk next season while earning more experience, and then will be given his major chance to race in the higher divisions with a full team all working for him. Benjamin Fisher has also returned to us, after being trained there. He will be of great importance for the support he can bring when there are climbs on a stage. He will be joining Faulk next week, and we expect him to race as captain in Monte Rosa at the start of next season, where we will see how we get on.
Also joining in the next couple of days will be Aiden Dotson and Kenneth Head. This will complete our USA hill squad, and we think it will be good enough for Zyte division, and hopefully a bit more. We are also training Sean Snow as a 7th rider for this team, and we expect big things from the youngster in the coming years.
We thank the riders who have been a part of our squad for the last seasons and wish them all the best for the future. Riders such as Ingarro, Roels, and De Nooy will always have a home here, and we can only hope that one day they will return to pull on our shirt one more time. The door will stay open for these riders, if they ever need anything in the future.
In our first race with the new look team (not finished); we travelled south to Costa Rica to ride in the 1 day race Gran Premio EEO. The team worked well throughout to control the day’s breakaway along with a few other teams, and Faulk showed his experience with 40km to go in the stage. He instructed Bullock to try a lone attack to bridge to the breakaway which was 2 minutes ahead. This caused a split in the peloton with other favourites realising the danger and chasing him down, Faulk just followed the wheels. When they caught Bullock and the breakaway, there was just 1 rider ahead (Keith Dabney, Team AEK), who had left his breakaway companions and was now inside the final 10km. Faulk saw that all the other favourites were struggling after the effort they had just put in to close down Bullock, so on the days final big hill he put in an attack and got away. He chased down Dabney, and the 2 worked together to stay ahead of the chasing riders. Unfortunately for us, Dabney had the better sprint and took the honours, but overall a very satisfying first race for the new team.
Next we travel to Brazil for Volta Ciclistica Do Iguacu where we hope for another podium, in the race before Faulk and Fisher leave for a few weeks. With regards to the future, we anticipate a lot of young riders coming in to train with Faulk/Osgood for 30 days before continuing to new pastures. In the long term we want to bring in US climbers, so can have a hill and climbing setup.
Thanks for your time today; any questions will now be answered by Knotts
Shannon (Cali Mist PR Manager)
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Comments
Well done on the 2nd. Dotson - that is a name from the past. He was on my team a few seasons back.
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