May 23, 2014 (Vancouver, BC) – A national initiative has been put in place to strategically bring like-minded individuals and organizations together in order to establish a long-term professional cycling platform that will allow Canadian athletes to develop and succeed on the international stage. The long-term goal is to establish a World Tour team, but the short-term goal is establish a Continental men’s team. Once the long-term goal of a World Tour team is achieved, it is expected that the Continental program will remain in place and continue to act as a feeder program to the World Tour team. Alongside the men’s program will also be a UCI women’s program.
Cycling Canada’s President, John Tolkamp, endorses this initiative and states: “With Canada’s growing interest in cycling as a sport and increased international success, a Canadian based top level Pro Team is both a natural and critical element of the future success of Canadian cycling. It provides a focal point for the aspirations for youth, an environment where our nation’s top women and men cyclists can live their career dreams and opportunities and showcase Canada’s talent on the world stage. No doubt this team would cultivate new fans and supporters of what is the most amazing sport in the world.” Tolkamp is also a member of the new Advisory Team behind the initiative.
M1 Sports Management, led by Mark Ernsting, feels that now is the perfect time to initiate this vision and explains: “It is very important that we create the right foundation as a management company that is responsible for the delivery of this initiative. It is important for companies to know that their marketing initiatives are being executed professionally and in accord with their objectives”.
To further this plan, Ernsting and M1have formed an Advisory Team. According to Ernsting: “If this vision is going to be successful, it has to be a team effort across the country, not just by one person. This is a collaborative effort and I want to engage and involve individuals who can provide strategic advice. I also want the nation to – Join The Team – by becoming involved.”
Advisory Team member, Alex Stieda, North America’s first cyclist to wear the coveted Tour de France yellow jersey, emphasizes: “Creating value for sponsors will provide positive results for the future financial viability of the program. The sport has to look at the return on investment for the sponsors and Mark has created the foundation for this to happen. With a proper business case in place, companies will see that the sport of cycling is not only one of the most effective but also cost-effective marketing strategies available”.
This vision could have been kept quiet, working diligently behind the scenes. However the Advisory Team and M1 felt that it would be better to let Canadians know of these plans and that there is a reputable team in place that have taken up this challenge. Ernsting notes: “Failure is not an option, the sport is growing too quickly for Canada not to have the right team in place to support Canadian athletes.”
Canadians who feel that they can support this initiative, or have a business that they think could benefit from using cycling as their next marketing platform, are invited to contact Ernsting directly.
For more information please visit: M1 Pro Cycling at www.m1procycling.com
Or contact: Mark Ernsting, ernsting@m1sportsmanagement.com, +1.604.760.7373
May 23rd, 2014 at 3:25 pm
We have to make sure that “dopers” or their management are not allowed in the processs of creating a Canadian team. I’m not sure we have enough qualified experienced coaches or riders who came up and developed with competent coaches to have a pool of great racers in Canada. So far we’ve had dopers and athletes with amazing natural talent and drive. Very rare. Don’t get me wrong we have some good coaches (Quebec, B.C.) but not likely in Ontario as I’m experienced and educated and I’ve been around to observe what is happening (my old coach is in the Cycling Sport hall of Fame 10 World titles and over 300 National titles.) and no one here in Ontario comes close to his achieavements and more important methods. If you don’t come from good coaching, years of experience and education you are just reinventing the the job and sport and perhaps NOT BE QUALIFIED. Could you imagine a coach in hockey or baseball who came up to his position without also having been coached? It would be laughable. But here, because so few know anything, someone green with two years racing experience (with no formal coaching education) can make himself or herself a paid coach. What the hey. It takes a coached background, years of behind the desk of formal college or university education and minimaly twenty years of racing experience to understand what’s happening in the sport. People can rationalize and pretend but they are NOT for real.
May 23rd, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Lets see, who will be the star Canadian riders signed to this team?
Hugo Houle has yet to do anything of any significance, but he still has time to grow.
Zach Bell is 31 and even if he were 27, he has never had what it takes to be competitive at the WT level.
For being based in NA, Will Routley is riding well this year, but at 31, how many good years does he really have left? He spent 2013 in Europe with Accent.jobs – Wanty and performed miserably, not a single European result to his name that year.
David Boily also performed poorly in Europe and is now no where to be seen.
Nic Hamilton is fine as a NA rider, but thats it, nothing more than fine.
Guillaume Boivin got 3rd at U23 Worlds, but Matthews got first, Degenkolb 2nd, Phinney 3rd, Démare 5th, Lobato 9th, Rowe 11th, Navardauskas 14th, Majka 26th, Slagter 35th, Betancur 38th and so on…. What has Guillaume Boivin really done since his injury? Is the Premiere Canadian team going to have a 3rd tier sprinter/leadout rider as their main guy? Not everyone who rides well in U23 develops into a WT star, it looks as if Boivin falls into this category for now.
Not Ryan Roth.
Ryan Anderson at least has some results, but I’m not convinced he deserves a place in the WT
Francois Parisien, David Veilleux, and Dominique Rollin have all retired.
I can’t picture Ryder joining and I have no idea what to expect from Papa Svein.
By the time this little project spends its year as Pro Conti and rounds up enough money to purchase foreign riders to get a WT licence, will Christian Meier (already 29), a helper who is happy and planted in another WT team potentially be the strongest tie to the teams registered Nation?
We dont have a few star riders like Leopard did, nor do we have Multiple Billionaires interested in Cycling like so many of the other WT teams do.
I know everyone wants to create the next Symmetrics, but will and money alone are only enough to guarantee the creation of the next Spidertech.
May 24th, 2014 at 2:47 pm
Marcel, you hit the problem of creating an international Canadian Cycling Team in the head. We only have Ryder (x doper) and Tuft (hard working natural talent) who can compete with the world pros.
Routley? Yeah, not bad. The rest ( who we don’t know for sure they are clean) have a super hard time winning in N.America and would have a hard time hanging on to the pack in Europe. I believe badly trained or mediocre athletes with huge egos resort to doping.
Juniors and farm club? Big goose egg. Not near enough competent coaching in Canada to produce world level champions. We do have useless (to the creating champions concern) McCoaches who make money telling the over 40 new to racing crowd what their power output should be.
If we start today it is going to take six years to develop a junior team (if we have twenty good dedicated juniors in the country) to a world level crew and only if we find competent coaches and there is a concerted national or provincial organized effort to do the job right.
Sad story. Talked to who I thought was a hopeful National prospect coming out of the track system (dominates at his track) and found out he knows nothing about training properly and doesn’t care to know. He barely finishes in the middle of the pack in domestic pro races and his strategy is out of the kindergarten racing manual. What the hey? This is all we got?
I also have to blame so called coaches that don’t sacrifice and develop juniors and also coaches that rely on racing experience alone, hearsay and rider banter for their so called knowledge and have not spent an hour in a college classroom learning how their athletes and sport operates theoretically and scientifically.
I grew up in a cycling environment that produced 10 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS and hundreds of NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS so I know how it’s done. Nothing that I’ve seen in Ontario comes close to doing the job. Blame also goes to some of our so called Cycling Mcleadership (unqualified, stale, surrounded by yes men of limited experience and too long on the job) who should be clerking at a bank and who don’t have a master plan for world cycling success, have no idea what the plan should be, who really don’t care about producing world class cyclists and who don’t have a clue of what is good, mediocre or bad coaching. Oh, but they are politically correct.
KNOWLEDGE, PASSION, VISION AND COMMITMENT IS WHAT WE NEED STARTING TODAY AND HOPEFULLY IN SIX YEARS WE RAISE A GOOD CROP OF RACERS THAT CAN COMPETE WITH THE WORLDS BEST.