ProConti team to ride road and TT offerings again in 2011
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The SpiderTech p/b C10 team.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
Pro provides the stems for the Argon 18 team bikes.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The headtube of the new Gallium Pro has been beefed up compared to previous incarnations.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The rear end of the team's Argon 18 E-114 TT bike.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
Canadian company Argon 18 is still the bike sponsor for ProConti squad SpiderTech p/b C10.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The cockpit of the E-114.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
SpiderTech p/b C10 will be using the Argon 18 E-114 time trial bike.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
SpiderTech p/b C10 will be using the Argon 18 Gallium Pro road bike.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The all-new beefed up bottom bracket shell is a feature of the 2011 Gallium Pro.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The team will run the SRM version of Shimano's Dura-Ace crankset.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The team is presented at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
Guillaume Boivin talks to those assembled at the presentation.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
Svein Tuft and his TT bike at the presentation.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
Star signing Svein Tuft talks to the audience at the launch.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
The team's achievements are discussed at the presentation.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
The team will be on Argon 18 Gallium Pro bikes again this year.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
Canadian cycling legend Steve Bauer talks to those assembled for the team launch.(Image credit: Hugo-Sebastien Aubert/CSM)
SpiderTech is using Pro componentary, including seatposts.(Image credit: Bruno Paradis)
The progression of SpiderTech p/b C10 to being Canada's first Professional Continental outfit has come through the work of passionate individuals and companies involved since the team's beginning.
With founding sponsors remaining and new corporate partners emerging with the advent of the team's ProConti status, there's very much a 'homegrown' feel to the squad led by Canada's most famous cycling export, Steve Bauer.
One of those Canadian companies involved over the long term is Argon 18, which itself represents the ethos of the SpiderTech team and will now be seen throughout Europe and at some of the world's biggest races for the first time in its brief history.
Former racer Gervais Rioux founded the company in 1989, having sold the brand through his Montreal, Canada, store after retiring from racing professionally. In 2001 the company launched its first all-carbon bike and a decade later is the technical sponsor for that nation's first Professional Continental team.
During the team's launch at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada, SpiderTech riders entered the stage on Argon 18's Gallium Pro, the company's flagship road model and the E-114, it's time trial offering.
The man who took third place in the U23 road race at last year's UCI Road World Championships, Guillaume Boivin, will be riding a medium Gallium Pro in 2010, clad with a full 7900 Dura-Ace groupset, including C50 or C35 carbon wheels and Dura-Ace pedals.
The team will use Shimano's Pro brand componentary, including bars, stem and saddles, with Boivin utilising offerings for each from Pro's range.
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One of the squad's key signings, local boy Svein Tuft, will use the team's E-114 time trial bike for the discipline in which he won a silver medal at the 2008 UCI Road World Championships.
Unlike the team's road bikes, Tuft's TT machine will utilise Shimano's Di2 group, running a Pro carbon disc on the rear whilst a deep Dura Ace C75 takes care of rolling matters up front. They'll be shod with Hutchinson Carbon Comp tyres, the choice for the entire team's wheels throughout 2011.
