MILLAR JOINS TEAM MATES AT SLIPSTREAM
David Millar
(Image credit: ISOSPORT)
By Edward Pickering
BRITISH road race and time trial champion David Millar is in Boulder, Colorado, for the first training camp of the new-look Team Slipstream. The Scot joined his team mates for a week of bonding, sponsorship meetings, bike fitting and light training which will culminate in the team?s official presentation at the Boulder Theatre next Wednesday.
Millar is one of a series of high profile signings made by team CEO Jonathan Vaughters for 2008 ? Tour de France stage winner David Zabriskie and 2004 Paris-Roubaix champion Magnus Backstedt are also in Colorado, along with ex-CSC rider Christian Vandevelde and Vuelta stage winner Tom Danielson.
Slipstream is being run with a strong anti-doping ethos. The riders are undergoing independent monitoring throughout the season by the Agency for Cycling Ethics (ACE), who will work closely with team management to ensure transparency and credibility. The UCI?s anti-doping chief Anne Gripper also met with Team Slipstream in Colorado.
Tour de France organisers ASO are rumoured to be impressed by Slipstream?s ambition and anti-doping message and the team has been strongly tipped for a Tour de France start in 2008. But Vaughters has refused to confirm that their presence in Brest for the Grand Départ is a done deal.
?ASO haven?t decided who will take part in the Tour yet, and there is a long way to go until then,? he said.
Team Slipstream announce 2008 roster
Edward Pickering
Edward Pickering is a writer and journalist, editor of Pro Cycling and previous deputy editor of Cycle Sport. As well as contributing to Cycling Weekly, he has also written for the likes of the New York Times. His book, The Race Against Time, saw him shortlisted for Best New Writer at the British Sports Book Awards. A self-confessed 'fair weather cyclist', Pickering also enjoys running.
Cycling idyll or danger zone? Spike in deaths on rural French roads
Cycling deaths shoot up on the roads that have long been renowned for safe and respectful driving
By James Shrubsall • Published 8 February 23
Who's the fastest man? New season starts with an unclear sprinting hierarchy
Sam Bennett, Biniam Girmay, Dylan Groenewgen, Fabio Jakobsen and Arnaud De Lie have all won, and Mark Cavendish hasn't even kicked off his year yet
By Adam Becket • Published 8 February 23