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Even amidst the chaos of bankruptcy protection Cannondale is more effective than the other bike companies at forging sponsorship relationships. It looks like they have managed to salvage their potent team and Cedric Gracia no longer needs to sweat about where his next paycheque is coming from. I'm not sure if the folks in the factory can say the same thing. Hopefully, once Cannondale's foolish foray into motorsports is sold off, they can go back to making bikes. By many accounts the fossil fueled products were good but every unit was sold at a loss. Perhaps they will also focus on their core business of making frames and quit their experiments with things like disc brakes (the Coda discs were a disaster here in B.C.) and cranksets. Here's the press release about the new partnership.
(Thursday 6 February, 2003) -
Siemens mobile, one of the global leaders in mobile communication, and Cannondale,
the world’s premier manufacturer of high-performance bicycles, are joining
forces to sponsor a pro mountain bike team, that is expected to race among
the best. The team will compete under the name Siemens mobile/Cannondale in
the 2003 and 2004 World Cup seasons, and it unites some of the
world’s top professional riders. Rainer-Wurz.com, the company owned
by former mountain bike racer Markus Rainer and Formula 1 driver Alex Wurz,
helped to bring the companies together and will run the team. Cannondale will
provide state-of-the-art racing bikes, technical expertise and support. Siemens
mobile will provide cutting edge mobile phones that will allow the team, via
triple band technology, to make phone calls in all parts of the world.
The new squad includes some of the world’s best pro riders,
such as Christoph Sauser (Switzerland), Roel Paulissen (Belgium), Tinker Juarez
(U.S.), Hannes Pallhuber (Italy) and Franz Hofer (Italy) for cross-country,
and Cedric Gracia (France) and Petra Bernhard (Austria) for downhill and four-cross.
The riders come from the Rainer-Wurz.com team and the former Volvo/Cannondale
squad, the winningest team in mountain bike history.
The team’s contract runs for two years and the squad will
compete in the World Cup, the World Championships and all major international
and European mountain bike races. The Siemens mobile and Cannondale logos
will be featured prominently on the race jersey, the three Cannondale race
bikes (the Gemini for downhill, the Jekyll for four-cross and the Scalpel
for cross-country), team post-race clothing and the five team vehicles. Cedric
Gracia’s participation at the Red Bull Ride last
week in Australia marked the official debut of the new Siemens mobile/Cannondale
team.
The Siemens mobile Cannondale team presentation will take
place at the Ski World Cup and Siemens Mobile Snow King mountain bike race
at Garmisch Partenkirchen on Saturday 22 February.
Rolf Beisswanger, vice-president and head of Global Sponsoring
Siemens mobile, voiced his excitement about the new team. “This high-level
team has huge potential and will race among the best. The riders are all technically
sophisticated and need partners that they can rely on. Now they have high-performance
bikes, the communication equipment they need, and one of the most successful
team leaders. This really sets new standards in mountain bike racing.”
Saskia Stock, Cannondale Europe’s vice-president of marketing,
was equally excited about the team. “Cannondale is very proud to be involved
with Siemens mobile and Rainer-Wurz.com. We feel this cooperation between three
outstanding companies will set the standard for mountain bike racing teams,”
said Stock. “We have a long, successful history in the mountain bike racing
world and we think this team raises the bar once again."
Alex Wurz, of Rainer-Wurz.com expressed his enthusiasm, “We
are delighted to have two such strong and professional team partners in Cannondale
and Siemens mobile. Cannondale has a very successful history in mountain bike
racing and brings a wealth of experience to the team. I think it reflects
very positively on the sport that, even in the current economic climate, major
global companies such as Siemens mobile are seeing mountain biking as a strong
marketing platform.”
About Siemens mobile:
The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group
(Siemens mobile) offers
the complete range of mobile solutions including mobile devices, infrastructure
and applications. Devices include mobile phones, wireless modules, mobile
organizers and cordless phones as well as products for wireless home networks.
The infrastructure portfolio includes GSM, GPRS and 3G mobile network technologies
from base stations and switching systems to intelligent networks, e.g. for
prepaid services. Mobile Applications cover end-to-end solutions for Messaging,
Location Based Services or Mobile Payment. For fiscal 2002 (September 30),
Siemens mobile recorded sales of EUR 11 billion and employed approximately
28.600 people worldwide.
http://www.siemens-mobile.com/press
About Cannondale:
Cannondale is the world’s leading innovator of high-performance
bicycles and technical cycling apparel. In the past decade, Cannondale mountain
bikes have won 11 World Championships, 17 World Cup Series titles, 16 National
Championships, 89 World Cup races and two Olympic medals. Its road bikes have won multiple stages
of the Tour de France, captured the overall victory at the Giro d'Italia,
and distinguished themselves in virtually every major European cycling event.
Cannondale bicycles have also earned numerous design honors
including “Bike Of The Year” awards in the U.S. and Europe, and the “Technological
Development of the Year” award from VeloNews magazine. The Connecticut, U.S.A.-based company
produces virtually all of its products in America.
About Rainer-Wurz.com:
Rainer-Wurz.com brings new levels of professionalism and
passion to mountain bike racing team management. Owned by former World Cup racer Markus Rainer and Formula
1 driver Alex Wurz, Rainer-Wurz.com combines an intimate knowledge of today’s
mountain bike racing scene with substantial expertise in the world of big-budget
corporate team sponsorship and operations.
For further
information please contact:
Siemens mobile/Cannondale Press Office
run by Rainer-Wurz.com
Julia Wurz
Tel: + 377
9777 1177
Fax: + 377
9777 1178
Mobile:
+ 377 607 93 81 61
Email: press@rainer-wurz.com
For Siemens
mobile:
Christina
Dinné
Tel: + 49
89 636 53018 Fax:
+ 49 89 636 53484 Mobile: + 49 160 4758 737
Email: christina.dinne@siemens.com
For Cannondale:
Saskia Stock
Tel: + 41
61 4879487 Fax: + 41 61
487 9485
Email: StockS@cannondale.com
A photo
of the new tricot is available for downloading from the team image library:
http://www.laserbild.at/fotoarchiv.html
-username: wurz password:
rainer
