New Continental team for Australia

The Australia-based Praties cycling team has announced that it will become a Continental registered team for 2008. The team's major sponsor, Tasmanian baked potato franchise called Praties, has agreed to increase its commitment to enable the team to take the next step, which will see it compete in the complete National Road Series and The Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

"The confidence that the Praties Group and all our sponsors have shown in our program is gratifying and reinforces that we are heading in the right direction." said team manager Andrew Christie-Johnston. "But we will still need additional sponsors to enable us to compete in races like The Trust House Classic (Tour of Wellington), The Powernet Tour of Southland as well as the possibility of some racing in Asia and Europe. That is what we are working on at the moment. So we would love to hear from any potential sponsors interested in supporting us."

The team is still to finalise their roster for next year so Australian-based riders looking to join a Continental squad should send a brief resume to pratiesaustralia@bigpond.com.

For more information on the Praties Team and it's sponsors visit www.pratiescycling.com