Landis: Tinker is the reason for the team, he is a standout human being

David 'Tinker' Juarez gives the thumbs up in joining Floyd Landis at Floyd's of Leadville Racing (Image credit: Floyd's of Leadville Racing)

Floyd Landis has said that a major factor behind his decision to back a new gravel and mountain bike team in 2022 came down to the decision of David 'Tinker' Juarez’s long-term sponsor to end its support of him. The Floyd’s of Leadville Racing team was announced on Tuesday and will feature Juarez alongside four other competitors - Taylor Lideen, Anne Donley, Victor Cashes, and Geneviève Jeanson.

The 60-year-old American is one of the country’s best-ever BMX and MTB riders, taking the gold medal at the 1995 Pan-Am Games, three NORBA national cross-country championship titles, five NORBA national 24-hour titles plus three UCI Master’s World Championships. He was backed by Cannondale since 1994, but in a social media post in October said that the brand had unexpectedly ended its long association with him. He has subsequently deleted the post, which read:

“Hi everyone, if you haven't heard or not Cannondale is dropping me because they don't have the budget to keep me on. $25,000 isn't a lot for a cyclist who race almost 50 years and I don't have time to write everything I've done, but I could guarantee I sold more bikes than anyone racing for Cannondale. I gave my life to promote Cannondale and I believe I race as much as your top XC racer and more, so how can you just drop the best Ambassador in the sport.”

“I read some comments he had made about how sad he was that his sponsor was no longer supporting him. I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to reach out to Tinker.’ I’ve known him for, I don’t know, since probably like 1993 or so. And I will say that he’s among the nicest, most genuine people you’ll ever hope to meet, and that he treats everybody with that same genuine interest when he meets them. You couldn’t find a better ambassador for a brand or the sport itself.”

“I couldn’t believe that the opportunity would even exist that I couldn’t be a sponsor for him,” Landis said. “I think Cannondale are a corporation that goes through changes to their marketing or who knows what, from time to time, and so for whatever reason, it didn’t make sense [to continue]. It certainly makes sense to me to align ourselves with somebody like him. He is a stand out human being.”

“As far as Tinker is concerned, my support for him is such that I’ll let him do what races he wants to do. He loves racing his bike, he’ll go every weekend if there’s a race to do. And he’s a big star in cycling. Anyone that’s been involved in mountain biking knows who Tinker is. He’s the kind of guy that’ll stay around after the race and talk to people and just genuinely, you know, interact with people.