6:00pm Friday 20th November 2009
By Steve Sowden
THE Yeovil-based Pendragon Sports, Le Col, Colnago professional cycling team are pleased to announce their line up for the 2010 road season.
South West based professional cycling team Pendragon have signed 11 riders for the 2010 season with a mix of experienced and up-and-coming talent.
The team are targeting the Premier Calendar, Nocturne Series, National Circuit series and the Tour Series (pending invite) along with a mix of international and regional races.
Title sponsorship continues from 2009 with cycling event and holiday organisers Pendragon Sports but this year they are joined by two new names.
Legendary bike manufacturer Colnago will supply the bikes and the exclusive clothing brand Le Col, owned by former South West resident and former GB international cyclist Yanto Barker, will be the other title sponsor.
The team has grown from the current Pendragon Kalas squad which was the highest placed South West based team which finished sixth in the National Rankings for 2009.
The team will be lead by Dave Clarke and new signing, Yanto Barker.
Yanto is also showing his commitment in the team by becoming one of the title sponsors with his new Le Col clothing brand.
“I returned to racing in 2009 and fell in love with the sport again “says Barker. “I’m back for a full season on the road next year and wanted to put something back into the sport and the region I grew up in and the Pendragon Sports, Le Col, Colnago team is the perfect vehicle for this."
Alongside Barker and Clarke will be Chris Opie who returns from several season’s racing in Holland with a cluster of UCI points and podium places to his name including a win in the prestigious Ronde De Antwerp.
Australian Casey Munro also joins from the UCI Continental Konica Minolta team in South Africa forming quite a formidable core of riders for the year ahead.
The rest of the team includes local Elite riders such as Chris Opie (Cornwall), Steve Lampier (Cornwall) Jack Adams (Dorset) and James Williams (Devon).
The idea of developing a regional squad augmented with selected riders from outside of the region to add balance has worked well to date.
It is hoped that this model will enable development of a solid fan base from the South West while offering business an excellent marketing platform to promote their products and services.
Team principle, Nick Bourne, said: "We are very excited about the team and we aim to continue developing the squad to UCI continental level so we will be capable of competing in the Tour of Britain within two years.
“Support of the team fits well with our company focus on cycling development within schools in the South West and activities which include cyclosportives and cycle tourism."
It’s not just racing for some riders though as a key aspect of the team is the creation of a development pathway for the South West.
Jack Adams, Richard Tanguy, Chris Opie and Peter Johnson are, or will be by the end of Jan, Level 2 Go ride Coaches as well as being trained to carry out Bikeability.
They will be undertaking after school bike training activity in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
The purpose is to develop interest in cycling through schools and once the interest has been established to put them in contact with their local Go ride club.
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