Team SpiderTech to race Tour of California
First-ever Canadian team invited to biggest bike race in America
Steve Bauer has gotten his wish. His Team SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy riders will take on former teammate Lance Armstrong and his Team RadioShack at the Amgen Tour of California May 16-23. Team SpiderTech will be the first Canadian entry in the 1280 km stage race that travels from Nevada City to Thousand Oaks over eight days and will include teams from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the U.S.
 “Team SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy is preparing well for the challenges ahead at the Amgen Tour of California. We are happy about the invitation and are excited about the opportunity to compete against the best teams and riders in the world,” said team director Steve Bauer. “The team’s sprinters fared very well in last fall’s Tour of Missouri where our Martin Gilbert won the final stage. Personally, I am looking forward to AToC to watch our team evolve in competition alongside some of my former teammates.”
Team SpiderTech has had a solid start to the 2010 season, collecting 10 UCI victories, which ranks them fifth in wins behind ProTour teams Liquigas-Doimo, HTC-Columbia and Cofidis. Amongst the riders scoring stage wins at the Vuelta a Cuba, Vuelta Independencia Nacional (Dominican Republic) and Vuelta Ciclista al Uruguay were Gilbert, Keven Lacombe, Ryan Roth, Guillaume Boivin, Bruno Langlois and Éric Boily.
The roster for the Tour of California hasn’t been decided yet, but Bauer said how individual riders do at upcoming events such as the Vuelta Telmex, Tour of the Battenkill, Tour of the Gila and the Joe Martin Stage Race will help make the eight-man roster selection easier.
