In front of an audience at the London Bike Show, the riders in the Endura Racing 2012 team gathered together for the first time ahead of their training camp next week in Majorca.
A sunny day greets the Endura Racing riders and staff on the steps of Excel.
The 2012 Endura Racing team presentation took place yesterday at The London Bike Show (ExCeL) in front of a large audience of media, special guests and show visitors.
The launch event brought the full team to London ahead of a season where we will once again race against the biggest teams in world cycling whilst tackling a full UK calendar in what promises to be a great year for British road racing.
Event MC David Harmon introduced the event with a film which highlighted some of the key wins and standout performances from our 2011 season, where the team finished as the best UK based UCI Continental team in the UCI Europe Tour rankings.
Endura boss Jim McFarlane has a chat to Ian Wilkinson.
Riders were then introduced to the crowd in groups of four, with new signing Erick Rowsell joining established team members Ian Wilkinson, Rob Partridge and Scott Thwaites first up on stage to be interviewed by David.
Over the course of the event new signings Russ Downing, Zak Dempster, Dean Windsor, Jon Tiernan-Locke, Ian Bibby and Jonny McEvoy had a chance to tell the crowd about how pleased they were to join the strengthened Endura Racing team and of their ambitions for the year ahead. Key members of the 2011 squad also spoke of their excitement of more firepower being added into the mix
The team’s General Manager was joined on stage by Sport Directors Julian Winn and Alex Sans Vega, Head Soigneur Ben Jenkins and our Service Course manager Richard Bowen. Smith was keen to point out that the team is keen to build on a strong 2011 and continue to punch above their weight in the races across Europe and beyond, saying: “We’re not going to make up the numbers – we want to win. I know we’ll be fighting with World Tour teams in these races and it’s going to be very difficult, but we want to have success in these races. It’s about spreading the wins throughout the team. I want to see everyone of these sixteen guys win a race this year.”
The team were introduced on the bike stage at the London Bike Show.
Endura MTB Racing’s Oli Beckingsale was also at the event and spoke about his desire to return to the top level of mountain bike XC racing after his horror hip injury at a UCI World Cup in the Czech Republic last August. Oli has battled back from major surgery and in well on track to return to top level racing this spring.
Follow the team on Twitter www.twitter.com/enduraracing and Facebook www.facebook.com/EnduraRacing
Endura Racing 2012 sponsor line-up:
Endura Equipe – Clothing www.enduraequipe.com
Giant – Frames and components www.giant-bicycles.com
SRAM – Groupsets www.sram.com
MET – Helmets www.met-helmets.com
Science-in-Sport – Nutrition – www.scienceinsport.com
Mavic- Wheels www.mavic.com
Tacx – Ergo trainers www.tacx.com
BONT – Racing footwear www.bont.com
Continental – Tyres www.conti-tyres.co.uk
Fizik – Saddles & bar tape www.fizik.com
Qoleum – Rider care products www.qoleum.com
Pedros – Bike care and maintenance www.pedros.com
LOOK – Pedals www.lookcycle.com
Teva – Casual footwear www.teva.com
Bottlesport – Bidons www.bottlesport.com
Endura Racing 2012 partners:
Marie Curie Cancer Care – www.mariecurie.org.uk
Bike Pure – bikepure.org
Endura Racing 2012 rider line-up:
Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden)
Alexandre Blain (France)
Dean Windsor (Australia)
Erick Rowsell (UK)
Ian Bibby (UK)
Ian Wikinson (UK)
Iker Camano (Spain)
Jack Anderson (Australia)
Jonny McEvoy (UK)
Jon Tiernan-Locke (UK)
Paul Voss (Germany)
Rene Mandri (Estonia)
Rob Partridge (UK)
Russell Downing (UK)
Scott Thwaites (UK)
Zak Dempster (Australia)
Team Associate:
Oli Beckingsale (UK) – MTB
Team Management
Brian Smith – General Manager
Julian Winn – Sports Director
Alex Sans Vega – Sports Director
Ben Jenkins – Head Soigneur
Richard Branston – Service Course Manager
Alex Blain greets Paul Voss with some French flair as the team come back together for the first time since last season.
Tour of Britain King of the Mountains Jon Lockes moves to Endura for a bigger European race programme while right, Russell (Fonzy) Downing looks to help Endura Racing step up to ProContinental in 2013 by adding to the win’s he has had in Europe already.
A popular place for show goers was the Endura stand packed with clothing for riders of all ages and disciplines.
Newcomers to Endura racing for 2012, Jon Locke, Dean Windsor, Zak Dempster and Jonny McEvoy.
Newcomer Erick Rowsell joins established names in Endura Racing Alex Blain, Ian Wilkinson and Scott Thwaites waiting to go on stage.
New signing Ian Bibby is interviewed on stage. Also there are Russell Downing, Paul Voss and Iker Camano.