M1 Cycling to race as DCBank Pro Cycling Team in 2019, remains UCI Continental
The team known as H&R Block since it's inception in 2013 changes title sponsor but remains dedicated to rider development and an international race calendar
Canadian UCI Continental development cycling M1 Cycling who raced with H&R Block as title sponsor since being founded in 2013 will become DCBank Pro Cycling Team for the 2019 season. In a press announcement, the team says the title sponsorship is a long-term agreement but the exact term length was not announced.
M1 Cycling has helped launch the cycling careers of notable Canadian riders such as Rally Cycling’s Rob Britton and Adam de Vos. Jake Burke, who is joining Luxembourg UCI Continental team Leopard Cycling in 2019, raced with H&R Block in 2016. Travis Samuel and Kris Dahl also passed through the program as did mountain bikers Peter and Quinton Disera.
In recent years, H&R Block have branched out to race in Asia and have welcomed international riders onto the team including Slovenian rider Jure Rupnik, 24, who will race with the team for a fifth season in 2019. Also returning will be Jean-Denis Thibault, 20, who will be with the program for a third year running. The rest of the roster has yet to be announced.
“Over the past several years, I have seen the team evolve as a prominent Canadian amateur team to a UCI Professional Team,” said DCBank president and CEO Jeff Smith. “It has been a pleasure to see riders such as Rob Britton, Adam de Vos, Kris Dahl and many others take the next step in the sport through a program like this. DCBank is pleased to work with Mark Ernsting and his team at M1 Pro Cycling to help support the sport of cycling and our riders.”
The team will continue to be managed by team director Maxime Martin who’s played an important role expanding the team’s calendar to include races across North America, Asia and Europe. In 2019, the team intends to continue expanding their race calendar. In 2018, the team competed in the Tour of China I, Tour of China II, Tour of Quanzhou Bay, Tour of Fuzhou, the Tour of Almaty in Kazakhstan, La Poly Normande in France along with UCI races in Canada and the United States.
