Carlos Sastre chats during the coffee break.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The Cervelo bikes are ready to ride.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Emma Pooley was in the Giro di Lombardia group.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Thor Hushovd and Brett Lancaster are dressed for the rain.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The é is prominent on the team's jersey for 2010.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The coffee stop was a good way for everyone to warm up.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Cervelo's Thor Hushovd(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Carlos Sastre was on the ride.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Miriam Melchers(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The thousand-yard stare indicates it's time for that coffee break!(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Heinrich Haussler(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The first day of the Cervélo TestTeam presentation weekend saw riders, media, sponsors and guests ride together on the Portuguese Algarve. Eighty riders set off under grey skies from the Robinson Club Quinta da Ria golf resort for a short out and back ride into the hills.
The peloton was divided into five groups, called Paris-Roubaix, Milan-San Remo, Giro di Lombardia, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Tours.
Dutch sprinter and new signing for 2010 Theo Bos led the Paris-Roubaix group; Carlos Sastre led the Milan-San Remo group, Heinrich Haussler piloted the Giro di Lombardia group; Thor Hushovd was in charge of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Milriam Melchers headed the Paris-Tours group.
Everyone wore the new 2010 Cervelo Test Team jersey which has the big Cervélo "é" on the back.
Most of the riders also had their new black and white 2010 team bikes fitted with SRAM components and Rotor chainsets. In 2009, Cervélo used Shimano components. Every bike used by guests and media for the ride had been used by a Cervélo TestTeam rider in major competition in 2009.
The weather was not great, but there were plenty of smiles and some bursts of racing on the climb to the coffee stop and in the final kilometres back to the hotel.
The men had ridden for five and half hours the day before and so used the ride as a rest day. For some of the guest and media, even the 40km ride was a test of their endurance. A few got a helpful push to make sure they got back to the hotel.
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The 13 women riders and 25 men arrived in Portugal a week ago and will stay for another week of intense training.
The team will hold its official presentation on Sunday morning.
Women's team Elisabeth Armitstead (Great Britain) Emilie Aubry (Switzerland) Regina Bruins (Netherlands) Lieselot Decroix (Belgium) Sarah Düster (Germany) Claudia Häusler (Germany) Sharon Laws (Great Britain) Mirjam Melchers (Netherlands) Emma Pooley (Great Britain) Carla Ryan (Australia) Patricia Schwager (Switzerland) Iris Slappendel (Netherlands) Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)
Men's team Davide Appollonio (Italy) Theo Bos (Netherlands) João Correia (Portugal) Iñigo Cuesta (Spain) Philip Deignan (Ireland) Stefan Denifl (Austria) Xavier Florencio (Spain) Volodimir Gustov (Ukraine) Roger Hammond (Great Britain) Heinrich Haussler (Germany) Jérémy Hunt (Great Britain) Thor Hushovd (Norway) Ted King (United States) Andreas Klier (Germany) Ignatas Konovalovas (Lithuania) Brett Lancaster (Australia) Daniel Lloyd (Great Britain) Joaquín Novoa (Spain) Oscar Pujol (Spain) Gabriel Rasch (Norway) Martin Reimer (Germany) Dominique Rollin (Canada) Carlos Sastre (Spain) Xavier Tondo (Spain) Marcel Wyss (Switzerland)
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
