Garmin-Chipotle team physiologist Allen Lim and physical therapist - and bicycle coach - Curtis Cramblett take some measurements the old-fashioned way. (Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)
In a bid to expand its sports science team Garmin-Transitions has announced the signing of four new members of staff. Allen Lim, the team’s sports physiologist is set to move in the other direction, confirming to Cyclingnews that he will leave the team with immediate effect.
Joining the team on a permanent basis will be Inigo San Millan, who has been working with the team since early 2009, overseeing the team's physiological testing, including the Vuelta a España where the team picked up its first three Grand Tour wins since the 2008 Giro d’Italia. He has previously worked with several professional teams and is the head of sports physiology at the University of Colorado.
Carlos Gonzales Haro has also been recruited and will be based in Girona, at the team’s European base, and will develop the team’s training methods. Marc Quod is the third addition and comes from the Australian Institute of Sport, where he worked with the Australian U23 cycling team. In his role with Garmin-Transitions he will work with all riders to execute in-the-field testing.
Robbie Ketchell joins as an expert in low-speed aerodynamicist and computational biomechanical modeling. He was responsible for all of the team's aerodynamic innovations in 2009 and in his expanded role will continue to create aerodynamic advantages for riders. Adrie Van Dieman will continue in his role as direct coach to Christian Vande Velde, Tyler Farrar, Martijin Maaskant, a position he has held for the last two seasons.
"This is a crew of extremely talented and creative people - the best in the world at what they do, and who share our vision for maximizing the potential of natural human performance" said Jonathan Vaughters. "We have always prided ourselves on giving our riders the best possible sports science and technology. The additions and expanded roles of this group reflect that mission."
Despite the added personnel the team will lose a key member in Lim, who looks likely to move to another ProTour team. Lim had worked closely with the riders at Garmin-Transitions and before he teamed up with Vaughters he was a part of Floyd Landis’ training earlier in the rider’s career.
“I’ll be leaving Slipstream. I’ve had some great years there and it’s been a fantastic time. However, it’s about looking for a new challenge and trying to better oneself,” Lim told Cyclingnews.
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Lim will remain within cycling but at this point would not reveal where he would be working in the future. However rumours have been circulating that he would join up with Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel at Radioshack for 2010. Asked about this Lim was unable to deny whether they were true, simply calling the rumours, ‘interesting’.
"We wish Allen the best in his new endeavours. He's been a hard working member of our team for years and we appreciate the effort he put in to this team," said Vaughters.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
