Phinney joins replacement program for Vuelta a España
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Taylor Phinney is back to racing in the Tour of the Gila.(Image credit: Mitchell Clinton/www.clintonphoto.com)
Jesse Sergent (Trek-Livestrong) got the yellow jersey as well as the white jersey.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Clinton Avery (New Zealand)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Team RadioShack has announced that three stagiaires will join the squad next week as part of a replacement program for the Vuelta a España. Two riders from Trek-Livestrong, Taylor Phinney (USA) and Jesse Sergent (New Zealand) and one rider from the PWS Eijssen Team, Clinton Avery (New Zealand), are set to ride for the team directed by Johan Bruyneel for the rest of the season. The Tour of Denmark form August 4-8 will be their first race.
Taylor Phinney, track world champion and two-time winner of Paris-Roubaix U23, this year won the Olympia's Tour in Holland with the overall classification and four stage wins. The 20-year-old is the son of former Tour de France stage winner Davis Phinney.
New-Zealander Jesse Sergent, 22, is the silver medalist of the 2010 world pursuit championship and this year won the time trial stage in the Tour of Gila, beating specialists like Levi Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions). His countryman Clinton Avery won the U23 version of the Vlaamse Pijl in Belgium this year and finished the last three years in the top ten of Paris-Roubaix U23.
"All three riders are classy young riders. They have a lot of potential," commented Bruyneel. "We believe in them and are hoping this works out and can lead to something permanent next year. So far none of the three riders has a guaranteed place in our 2011 team but this is already a step forward in their development as pro riders. In the meantime we work further on the future of Team RadioShack. We are currently negotiating with other potential future riders for our 2011 team."
After the Tour of Denmark, the three stagiaires will get other race opportunities in Belgium and France, including the Tour du Poitou-Charentes (August 24-27), the Classic de l'Indre (August 29), the Grand Prix Jef Scherens/Leuven (September 5), the Memorial Van Steenbergen/Aartselaar (September 8), Paris-Brussels (September 11), the Grand Prix Fourmies (September 12), the Grand Prix de Wallonie (September 15), Koolskamp (September 17) and the Grand Prix Isbergues (September 19).
"All of these one-day races are part of the replacement program we had to put in place after we were told we're not welcome in this year's Tour of Spain," continued Bruyneel. "I hope that our victory in the teams classification in the Tour de France may be an answer to the organizers of the Vuelta. It feels bitter: the best team in the world's hardest race not being invited to participate at the Vuelta. 'Other teams offered us better options on a sporting level,' they said to us. We disagree."
RadioShack has also announced the team line-ups for the next races: At the Clásica San Sebastián on July 31, the squad will be composed of Mathew Busche, Markel Irizar, Levi Leipheimer, Geoffroy Lequatre, Jason McCartney, José Luis Rubiera and Haimar Zubeldia.
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The following riders will take part in the Tour of Poland from August 1-8: Fumiyuki Beppu, Ben Hermans, Daryl Impey, Tiago Machado, Sébastien Rosseler, Ivan Rovny, Bjørn Selander and Tomas Vaitkus.
At the same time, at the Tour of Denmark from August 4-8, Clinton Avery, Sam Bewley, Mathew Busche, Geoffroy Lequatre, Jason McCartney, Taylor Phinney, Jesse Sergent and Gert Steegmans will compete for the squad.
