In a bold initiative to cross the boundaries between local and international cyclesport, the Discovery Channel team is setting out to recruit regional racing superstars - starting with Sydney, Australia's 'King of Heffron Park' Anthony Spurgeon.
Spurgeon - universally known as 'Spurge' - has for the last few years demolished all comers at the Tuesday night crit series held in the Sydney inner-suburban criterium course. But his talent has never had the chance to translate to a bigger stage - till now.
"Reading the local results section on Cyclingnews we realized that there were riders who consistently rule their local scenes but never get the chance to move up to the big league," Discovery Channel directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel told Cyclingnews. "These guys hammer week after week despite holding down full time jobs and spending time with their families. Imagine what they can do with a proper ProTour team behind them."
Bruyneel added, "We were particularly impressed when we heard that Spurgeon turned out to race in pounding rain for the last race of the series. That's the kind of will to win we want on Discovery."
Bruyneel said that he would also be examining the records of local heroes at other highly-contested race series, such as the Asheville Mellowdrome track series and Ontario's Harris + Harris Midweek Criterium series.
