Competitors

Team Lists
Team Lists
Team Rosters
Start List

Nation
State/Region
International teams
Host Presenter
1
ARG

Esco-Telefonicos Argentina

2
AUS

Praties Cycling Team
Alcoa
3
BEL

Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy
BNY Mellon
4
CAN

Team RACE Pro
Kennametal
5
GER

Team Stadler
Lanxess
6
NED

Global Cycling

7
RSA

Konica Minolta Continental Cycling Team
Westinghouse



US Professional Espoir teams

8
USA
MN
Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast Pro Cycling

9
USA
NC
Time Pro Cycling




US Elite Amateur Espoir teams

10
USA
AZ
Team Waste Management/Racelab U23

11
USA
CA
California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized

12
USA
CA
Team VRC Racing/NOW-MS Society Cycling Team

13
USA
CA
ZTeaM

14
USA
CO
VMG/Felt

15
USA
New England
Fiordifrutta Cycling Team

16
USA
NY
Sakonnet Technology U25 Team

17
USA
PA
PA Lightning
Seagate
18
USA
PA
Penn St Cancer Inst-GPOA-Cannondale



Team Overviews




Team Overviews
Team Overviews
California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized – CaliforniaBacked by one of the world’s largest shippers of fresh strawberries, this Watsonville, California-based team brings a solid roster of homegrown talent. Team leadership will fall to Max Jenkins, winner of the under-23 road race at last year’s U.S. national championships. Jenkins is fresh off a stint with the U.S. national team where he spent 2.5 weeks racing in Europe. Also be on the watch for Tyler Dibble, a member of the U.C.-Davis squad that won the team time trial at this year’s collegiate cycling national championships. The entire Cal-Giant team is made up of in-house riders, and is not a composite squad like some of its competitors at the Tour of Pennsylvania. And that, says team director Anthony Gallino, will give his team a leg up because, “Our guys are very familiar with each other.”
Esco-Telefonicos – ArgentinaHost Presenter: Hispanic Chamber of CommerceThe lone South American squad in the Tour of Pennsylvania, Argentina’s Esco-Telefonicos brings a climber-heavy roster that includes Gustavo Borcard, the reigning under-23 Argentinean national road champion. Borcard also win a silver medal at the Pan American Championships. Also keep a close watch on Gaston Aguero who finished second in the under-23 competition of January’s Tour de San Luis. The team will be hosted by the Pittsburgh Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It’s based in Entre Rios, Argentina.
Fiordifrutta Cycling Team – New EnglandThe No. 1 ranked amateur team in the 2007 National Racing Calendar standings, the New England-based outfit focuses on the development of younger cyclists. Among the alumni that have moved on to pro teams are Shawn Milne (Navigators), Justin Spinelli (Saeco), Mike Jones ( Health Net-Maxxis), Jonathan Page (Sun Web-Pro Job), Mike Dietrich (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada), Phil Wong (Jittery Joes) and Jon Hamblen (Navigators). Fiordifrutta’s Tour of Pennsylvania team will be led by Jamey Driscoll, who owns recent wins at the Lake Auburn Road Race and Vermont’s Balloon Festival Classic. Phil Gaimon could also make some noise in the Keystone state, especially in the stage 1 and 6 criteriums. Fiordifrutta’s bike sponsor is Bedford, Pennsylvania-based Cannondale.
Global Cycling – NetherlandsHost Presenter: PNC BankThe first international team invited to participate in the Tour of Pennsylvania, the Dutch Global Cycling squad brings a talented roster that includes Dennis Luyt, Jori Pol, Sander Aardenburg, Jeimer Asjes, Geert Dijkshoorn and Mathijs Timmer. Highlights from the year include Luyt’s third place finish at the Ronde van Groningen. But team manager Aike Visbeek believes that Aardenburg could be Global’s top general classification threat. Visbeek also figures the climbing stages will be toughest for his riders, who’ve grown up riding the mostly flat terrain that dominates the landscape of the Netherlands.
Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy – BelgiumHost Presenter: The Bank of New York MellonYet another Tour of Pennsylvania team with connections to Lance Armstrong, this Belgian-based outfit is in part guided by Johan Bruyneel, team director for all of Armstrong’s seven Tour de France titles. The program’s day-to-day operations are run by Bernard Moerman, who previously operated the academy under the banner of the Cycling Center with headquarters at his Oostkamp, Belgium, home. Then and now, the academy’s mission is to give young, mostly American, riders a bike-racing education in hopes of eventually landing them a spot in the professional ranks. This year, Moerman brought his develop team to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a training camp that was held in conjunction with Bruyneel’s Team Astana pre-season training camp. Riders to watch include Belgian Steven Van Vooren, who won the climber’s jersey at the recently run Volta a Galicia. Also keep a close eye on Pennsylvania’s Jim Camut who topped the U23 competition at the same Spanish pro-am event.
Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast – MinnesotaOne of three U.S.-based professional teams in this year’s Tour of Pennsylvania field, this Minneapolis-based squad is led by former longtime pro Jonas Carney With Carney will come a balanced roster that should be a threat in both climbing and sprint stages during the six-day race. The team’s top rider is Quebec native David Veilleux, whose lengthy race resume includes three under-23 Canadian national titles, and a win at the 2005 Tour de L’Abitibi, the premier North American race for juniors. This year Veilleux showed he could ride with the big boys, taking victory in Baltimore’s Kelly Cup National Racing Calendar against a field that included some of the U.S. racing scene’s top pro riders. Veilleux should get strong support from Ben King, who won a pair of U.S. national junior titles last year before moving up to the under-25 ranks.
Konica Minolta Continental Cycling Team – South Africa Host Presenter: WestinghouseThe longest running pro team in South Africa celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and will bring a roster heavy on sprinting talent to the Tour of Pennsylvania. The team’s top dogs are fast men Christoff Van Heerden and Herman Fouche, who are both capable of winning mass gallops to the line. In previous years, Konica Minolta has run programs in Europe, but this year it opted to come to North America. The Johannesburg-based team also features a pair of Algerian riders that are part of the UCI’s talent ID program in Africa. Team director John Robertson was instrumental in getting the successful pro-level Barloworld program off the ground, and says a more permanent U.S.-based team is in the works for 2009.
PA Lightning – PennsylvaniaHost Presenter: SeagateThis under-25 team’s mission is to promote competitive excellence, sportsmanship, teamwork, talent development and brand enhancement while competing in a full season of regional, national and international cycling events highlighted by the Tour of Pennsylvania. The squad debuted in 2007 with just four riders, but still competed in over 40 track and road events, posting a dozen top three finishes in the elite and professional ranks. The team is led by a pair of Pennsylvania riders, Taylor Brown of Fleetwood, and Michael Chauner of West Chester. Both are former junior national champions with international experience. Also keep an eye on fellow Pennsylvanian Chris Ruhl of Quakertown. He’s a four-time national champion and former junior world’s team member. Top results are also expected from Ben Showman, a West Point graduate who dominated the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference and took 4th in the tough 2008 National Collegiate Road Race Championship. Climbers, Eric Chrabot, Virginia Tech graduate and Jeff Salvitti, Bucknell University sophomore round out the team.
Penn State Cancer Institute-GPOA-Cannondale -- PennsylvaniaOne of two Pennsylvania-based teams in the field, this squad will be especially motivated to fare well in stage 2, which finishes in Carlisle, home of title sponsor Hershey Cancer Institute. Even more important are the race’s final two legs, which culminate in Pittsburgh, home of this 10-year-old squad. The team will be led by Chris Kuhl and Elliot Gaunt. Kuhl is a multi-time collegiate national champion and former captain of the Sakonnet Technology team. Gaunt has a closet full of junior national championship jerseys, and spent time racing for the Belgian Cycling Center team, which is now known as the Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy.
Praties Cycling Team – AustraliaHost Presenter: AlcoaThe lone Australia-based team in the field boasts a roster from both the mainland and Tasmania. Time trial specialist Ben Norton represented his country at the track World Cup earlier this year in Los Angeles, and placed first in the Victorian Open road race. Richie Porte is a former triathlete who scored an impressive 9th-place overall finish at this year’s ProTour rated Tour Down Under, which included some of the world’s top professional riders. Also be on the watch for Daniel Furmston who was first in stage 1 of the Tour de Perth and lists whitewater kayaking and bush walking as his top off-the-bike pursuits. The title sponsor is a healthy fast food outlet that specializes in Irish potatoes.
Sakonnet Technology U25 Team – New YorkWhat started six years ago as a New York City amateur team has become a well-regarded national development squad. Among its alumni are Colavita-Sutter Home pro Andy Guptill and Time Pro Cycling team’s David Guttenplan. The team’s Tour of Pennsylvania effort will be led by Wisconsin native Ryan Baumann, who was the top under-23 rider at last year’s Tour of Virginia and won this year’s 80th running of the Cross Country Cycling Classic in the tiny Central American nation of Belize. The Sakonnet team recently helped secure a U.S. spot for the Tour de l’Avenir, a highly regarded race that’s considered the mini-Tour de France for under-23 riders. Primary sponsor Sakonnet Technology makes a trading and risk management software system for companies operating in the global energy markets.
Team RACE Pro – Canada Host Presenter: KennametalOne of several teams in the Tour of Pennsylvania field being led by former pro peloton stars, this Ontario-based outfit is directed by Steve Bauer, the first Canadian to win a stage at the Tour de France. After turning down numerous opportunities to lead teams – including an offer from former teammate Lance Armstrong – Bauer has finally decided to take a seat in the director’s chair. His all-Canadian team will be led by all-around riders Mark Pozniak and Joel Dion-Poitras. Pozniak gained valuable international experience in 2006 while racing with a Dutch team, and both riders spent part of the 2008 spring campaign racing in Europe, meaning they’ll be able to ID some of the top riders coming across the Atlantic for the 420-mile race in Pennsylvania.
Team Stadler – GermanyHost Presenter: LanxessThis German development program has posted solid results thus far in 2008, including a pair of top five stage finishes at Greece’s International Halkidiki Cycle Race. The Tour of Pennsylvania roster includes Henrik Wolter, Andreas Ciensky, Michael Kreutzburg, Johannes Forster, Mathias Kupke, and Stephan Klingner. Ciensky made the top 15 overall at May’s Tour of Berlin, while the team slotted sixth out of 14 at the under-23 race.
Team VRC:NOW-MS Society – CaliforniaNOW-MS Society is a Los Angeles-based not-for-profit club that’s focused on under-25 rider development. All the team’s sponsorship money is divided between its U25 program and raising awareness for the fight to end multiple sclerosis. In 2007, the club raised $55,000 for the national MS Society. Now in its fifth year, the team has produced six professional riders, including two who have gone on to win NRC races -- Curtis Gunn (Successfulliving) and Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing). At the Tour of Pennsylvania expect to see a well-rounded squad that includes fast finisher Nick Martinez, and climbing specialists Adrian Gerrits and Alex Welch. The team’s co-title sponsor, No Opportunity Wasted, is a lifestyle brand created by Phil Keoghan, host of the Emmy winning Amazing Race TV series.
Team Waste Management/Racelab U23 – ArizonaThis Phoenix-based development outfit is the official feeder team for the Jelly Belly pro cycling team. Its top current prospect is Kiel Reijnen, a native of Washington state who’s currently studying mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado-Boulder. It’s no coincidence that CU boasts one of the nation’s top collegiate cycling team, offering the young climber a chance to compete in the super-competitive Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference. Racelab Teammate Alex Boyd could also be a factor at the Tour of Pennsylvania. Boyd won the 2007 national collegiate road race title while a member of the powerful Midwestern State program. The team’s top sprinter is Sean Mazich.
Time Pro Cycling – North CarolinaThis second-year regional development team made the jump to pro continental status for 2008, while continuing its mission of helping groom young cyclists for successful professional careers. Directed by former pro Erik Saunders and based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the squad will be led by Nick Frey and Mike Stoop come the Tour of Pennsylvania. Frey, a student at Princeton, is the reigning under-23 national time trial champion and is widely regarded as a rider with considerable upside. Stoop of Virginia Beach, Virginia, is the team’s resident tough guy, capable of hanging in no matter how hard the racing is.
VMG/Felt – ColoradoColorado-based VMG-Felt is the development arm of Slipstream-Chipotle, one of two U.S.-based team that will compete in this year’s Tour de France. Leading the VMG-Felt brigade in Pennsylvania will be Peter Stetina, a superb all around rider from Boulder who was a member of America’s 2007 under-23 world championship team, and took best young rider honors at last year’s Tour de Toona, a professional-level stage race also held in Pennsylvania. Stetina comes from sturdy cycling stock. His father Dale won more than 200 domestic and international races during the 1970s and ’80s, and was a member of the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic teams. Uncle Wayne Stetina was a 10-time national champion and member of the 1972, ’76 and ’80 Olympic squads. Both men are inductees of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. VMG-Felt will be directed by former U.S. Postal Service pro Chann McRae, once a teammate of Lance Armstrong.
ZTeaM – CaliforniaWith no U.S. national team on the start list, California-based ZteaM may well be the next best thing. Though the outfit’s mail gets delivered to Tiburon, just north of San Francisco, the team has regional chapters all over the United States. That national reach is what attracted former Tour de France pro Frankie Andreu, who will serve as ZteaM team director at the Tour of Pennsylvania. The team will be led by San Paulo, Brazil native Stefano Barberi, who previously rode with Jonathan Vaughters’ TIAA-Cref development team and then the powerful Toyota-United professional squad. Also watch out for climbing specialist Nate English, who already this year has won a pair of hill climb races.