Marco polo gets new title sponsor

Just days after Trek announced their decision to sign on as the bicycle sponsor for the ProTour Astana team, the American bicycle manufacturer also stepped up support of the Marco Polo Cycling Continental Cycling Team. Trek will replace Discovery Channel as the main title sponsor so the Chinese continental team will continue into 2008 under the name Trek – Marco Polo Cycling Team. The team will be comprised of four Chinese riders and others from Malaysia, Russia, Japan and Australia.

Russian sprinter Sergey Kudentsov is currently ranked fourth in the UCI Asia Tour while Fuyu Li will be returning form a year on the Discovery Channel ProTour squad after earning enough ProTour points to qualify for the Olympics in 2008. New to the team will be Japanese riders Ken Onodera and Yu Takenouchi, plus Australian climber Jai Crawford. One more rider will be named soon.

The team will continue its cooperation with the Dolphin Mountain Bike Team, which shares a relationship with Trek, too. Mountain bikers Rudi van Houts, Alban Lakata and former Olympic and World Champion Bart Brentjens will be able to race on the road as part of their preparation for the Olympic mountain bike race.

The squad will race in all major races in Asia plus do a program in Europe and a few individual events like the Giro del Capo in South Africa.

Trek – Marco Polo Cycling Team for 2008: Xing Yandong, Yu Tong, Liu Yilin, Fuyu Li (all from China), Loh Sea Keong (Malaysia); Sergey Kudentsov (Russia); Ken Onodera and Yu Takenouchi (Japan); Jai Crawford (Australia).