Canadian team steps up to UCI Continental Team status

Canada will get a new UCI Continental Team in 2008. To support Team RACE Pro's step up the ranks, managers have been busy signing some of Canada's top talent including five-time Canadian National Road Champion Mark Walters, the 2005 U23 Canadian National Road Champion Ryan Roth, and current U23 Canadian National Cyclo-cross Champion Mark Batty. The team intends to provide an opportunity for Canadian cyclists to race at the pro level on a Canadian team with long term objectives to make it into the UCI ProTour and the Tour de France.

The team's title sponsor is Planet Energy and its members will race on Argon 18 bikes and Shimano components. Its season will begin with the Beverbeek Classic (1.2) on March 1, which will be the beginning of a spring European campaign. The European agenda will provide the racing experience and develop the fitness required for the team to be competitive during the later racing schedule in North America.

The US Open in Richmond, Virginia, will be the first significant race in North America for the team, but others will include the Tour de Beauce (2.2) and the 2008 Canadian National Road Championships, also in Beauce, Quebec.

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Josée Larocque and Canadian Sport Hall of Fame member, Steve Bauer, of Cycle Sport Management Inc. will manage all aspects of the team.

Team RACE Pro for 2008: Mark Walters, Ryan Roth, Kevin "Buck" Miller, Dustin MacBurnie, Mark Pozniak, Andrew Hunt, Eric Robertson, Joël Dion-Poitras, Keir Plaice, Dan Timmerman (USA), Adam Thuss, and Mark Batty.