WILTON, Ct. (BRAIN) — The final 2015 Cannondale-Garmin ProTour team roster includes members of the former Cannondale Pro Cycling team and the Garmin-Sharp team.
This year Cannondale announced it would shut down its wholly owned pro team and put its resources behind the U.S. based Garmin team as a sponsor and minority owner. While the team said it would honor on-going contracts with riders from both squads, that left some riders who had expiring contracts in limbo, including the popular American rider on the Cannondale team, Ted King.
The re-named squad roster, announced Friday, includes popular Garmin riders Ryder Hesjedal, Tom Danielson, Dan Martin, Sebastian Langeveld and Andrew Talansky, as well as former Cannondale riders like Ted King, Moreno Moser, and Elia Viviani.
The announcement also made clear that the new team will be called Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling. When the team merger was announced earlier this year, officials said the team would be called Team Cannondale unless a major co-sponsor stepped up.
Jonathan Vaughters, the CEO of the team's owner, Slipstream Sports, said the 2015 squad is "young" in two ways.
“I’m very excited about our 2015 team. We began as a small group with the mission of developing young riders and we have stayed true to that mission year after year, even as we have grown. 2015 is our youngest group of athletes yet, and it’s also young in that it’s a new team, and we have joined forces with Cannondale,” Vaughters said.
“That gives us huge opportunities. What you can expect to see is an extremely talented group of young riders who will benefit greatly from the leadership and guidance of more experienced guys like Langeveld, Martin, Hesjedal and Talansky. This is a team that will come into racing with a lot of enthusiasm and spirit, and will rely on teamwork, tactics, perseverance and creativity to give great performances.”
Vaughters said the team will meet soon in Connecticut and then embark on a four-day sailing trip as a team-building exercise.
“Like cycling, sailing is a team sport,” said Vaughters. “The idea with sailing and living on the boats is to take these guys totally out of their comfort zone and get to know each other and work together under difficult circumstances. For many if not most, this will be a totally foreign activity – so they will need to support each other just as they will all season during races.”
Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling 2015:
- Janier Acevedo
- Jack Bauer
- Alberto Bettiol
- Nathan Brown
- André Cardoso
- Tom Danielson
- Joe Dombrowski
- Davide Formolo
- Nathan Haas
- Lasse Hansen
- Ryder Hesjedal
- Alex Howes
- Ben King
- Ted King
- Kristjian Koren
- Sebastian Langeveld
- Alan Marangoni
- Dan Martin
- Matej Mohoric
- Moreno Moser
- Ramunas Navardauskas
- Kristoffer Skjerping
- Tom Jelte Slagter
- Andrew Talansky
- Dylan Van Baarle
- Davide Villella
- Ruben Zepuntke
