The Toyota United Pro Cycling team stretched its legs in Thousand Oaks, California this week as seventeen riders and a team of directors, mechanics, support staff and sponsors gathered for a week of riding, meetings and equipment hand-outs.
After an inaugural season where Toyota United scored 55 first-placed victories (including two stages of the Tour of California) and ranked second in the NRC standings, the team is again stacked with talent for 2007. Along with most of the 2006 team, team captain Chris Wherry, USPRO Time Trial Champion Chris Baldwin and star sprinter Ivan Domingiez are all back for 2007.
New to the team is an interesting mix of veteran and promising up-and-coming domestic and international talent. A former pro with the Mercury racing team, Henk Vogels returns to the country where he "did the best racing of my life." Vogels is joined by Irish National and World Junior road-race champion Mark Scanlon, Utah-based climber Burke Swindlehurst and Aussie Caleb Manion.
