Canadian cyclocross squad Garneau-Easton Cycling announces roster, sponsors for 2016

Every team hopes to top the previous season’s achievements. For Canadian cyclocross squad Garneau-Easton Cycling, the highlights of 2015—the first for the Canadian team—makes that goal a particularly tall one. But given those achievements, it’s certainly a goal within reach for the squad formerly called Red Truck-Garneau presented by Easton.

For the 2015-16 season, the team racked up a national championship win, a pair of USA Cycling Pro CX victories and more than 20 other wins, setting a high standard for Canadian cyclocross in the process. That standard, said co-manager Michael van den Ham, is the point. “We started this team last season,” van den Ham said, “because we saw a real need for a top-tier cyclocross team in Canada. There are so many talented riders in our country. It’s our goal to be able to provide a platform to allow Canadian riders to compete at the top level of the sport.”

Several of the talented Canadian riders who set that standard will be back in 2016.

Along with van den Ham, Craig Richey and Natasha Elliott will be saddling up again for the team’s sophomore year, while Gunnar Holmgren, who took top honours at Paris to Ancaster this year, will wear the squad’s colours in the junior ranks. With the Canadian junior national championship in the young rider’s crosshairs, hitting the terrain of Europe and flying the maple leaf, the Orillia, Ont.-based ‘cross specialist said, is 2016’s endgame.

“I am very excited to be representing Garneau-Easton Cycling,” Holmgren said, “because I will have the opportunity to race across North America and Europe with the support of Canada’s premier cyclocross team. I am very glad this team will support me in achieving my goals and I can’t wait to get the season started.”

Title sponsorship for 2016, as before, will be provided by Garneau, who will equip riders with the Steeple X-Carbon ‘cross bike. Easton, meanwhile, will provide wheels, cranks and cockpit, posts and bar tape, with highlights being the brand’s 442-g EC90 SL crankset and the use of Cinch technology, allowing the team to swap out chainring sizes on the fly as course conditions dictate. Pedals from Crankbrothers and saddles from SDG round out the Easton-Garneau build for 2016.

The goals of 2016 aren’t all about global glory, though, principals said. Just as important is continuing to support the respective communities of the team’s riders, and nurturing the next generation of Canadian cyclocross. Nothing achieves that quite like bragging rights at the community level, said Craig Richey, the team’s co-manager.

“The original concept for this team under the Ethical Racing Project brand,” he noted, “was to support and grow local cycling and cyclocross communities while giving those communities a team to cheer for at the biggest races in the world. It is important that the team consists of ethical athletes and positive role models who engage and support their local communities through coaching, cyclocross clinics and the local race scene.”