Floyd Landis’ cycling team announces first signings, new team name and bike sponsor
Floyd's Cycling to be directed by Gord Fraser and includes Canadians Nick Zukowsky, Emile Jean, Robin Plamondon and Carson Miles along with American sprinter Travis McCabea and Romanian stage racer Serghei Tvetcov
The new team sponsored by Floyd Landis has a new name, a bike sponsor and it’s first roster announcements. The UCI Continental team registered in Canada will be called Floyd’s Pro Cycling after legal issues with the Canadian government prevented the cannabis entrepreneur to name the team after his company Floyd’s Of Leadville. Gord Fraser will be the team’s team director.
The first signings for the team seem to indicate a mixed focus on sprints with American Travis McCabe formerly of United Healthcare and Romanian ITT and stage race specialist Serghei Tvetcov also for UHC. The first Canadian signings of the team include Nick Zukowsky and Emile Jean formerly of Silber Pro Cycling, Carson Miles and Robin Plamondon who both raced worlds in the junior ranks.
The team also has signed American Keegan Swirbul formerly of Jelly Belly and Australian Jonathan Clarke of UHC. The Jelly Belly and UHC teams both folded at the end of the 2018 season.
Travis McCabe and Jonathan Clarke. Photo: Brian Hodes
Keegan Swirbul leads the break. Photo: Brian Hodes
Serghei Tvetcov. Photo: Brian Hodes
Nick Zukowsky was a late attacker in the U23 race at the 2018 world championships.
The team will race aboard Van Dessel bicycles in 2019, an American company based in Mendham, New Jersey. The team will follow the lead of UCI WorldTour team EF Education First-Drapac with a program that will also include gravel and mountain bike events. The mixed-surface calendar will begin at Canadian mixed-surface event Paris to Ancaster on April 28. “Once we decided to race cross-category, partnering with Van Dessel made perfect sense,” said Fraser.
The team had to navigate some complicated legal issues with the Canadian government before settling on a name. Landis is partially sponsoring the team with money that he was awarded in the whistleblower lawsuit against Lance Armstrong which was pursued by the U.S. government and settled for US$5 million outside of the courtroom. The rest of the teams budget is from his company Floyd’s of Leadville which sells CBD products.
“Canada is sorting out the legalities surrounding CBD and athletics,” Landis said. “My commitment to the team remains unchanged regardless of what it needs to be called. After years of litigation, I have no desire to enter another lengthy legal battle over the name.”
The roster is composed of a number of riders from folding teams in North America including Jelly Belly, UHC and Silber. McCabe is the most decorated new edition having stages of the Tour of Utah, the Colorado Classic and the Le Tour de Langkawi on his decorated palmares. Țvetcov is a strong stage racer with overall wins at the Tour de Korea and Turul Romaniei on his result list from 2018. He also won the ITT at the Tour de Beauce and Tour of the Gila in 2018 plus was second overall at the Colorado Classic.
Clarke is the veteran of the squad but has a long list of solid GC results on the North American and world UCI calendar. Swirbul is a young rider with some strong results to show for from 2018 top five results at the Tour of Utah and Tour de Beauce.
Zukowsky won the Canadian elite crit title and finished 21st in the U23 world championship ITT while Emile jean won a stage of the Tour de Beauce and Tour de Saguenay in 2017. Plamondon also represented Canada in Innsbruck and collected top ten results at the Tour de l’Abitibi and finished second in the junior Canadian championships. Miles also raced worlds.
