August 28, 2004 – Event producers Tailwind Sports and Threshold Sports announced that a record 42 number of men’s and women’s teams will compete in the 2004 T-MOBILE INTERNATIONAL, presented by BMC Software, on September 12th. The internationally diverse field will be comprised of 22 women’s teams and 20 men’s teams with riders representing the United States, Canada, Spain, and Italy, among others.

Six-time Tour de France champion and U.S. Postal Service team leader Armstrong will highlight the men’s field along with other standout Americans such as Olympic bronze medallist Bobby Julich, top 10 Tour de France finisher Levi Leipheimer and Tour of Italy stage winner Fred Rodriguez. Julich, riding for CSC, recently won the bronze medal in the Olympic time trial in Athens. His 2004 season includes a top three finish at Paris-Nice and fourth overall at Criterium International. Julich finished third overall at the 1998 Tour de France. Leipheimer, a Santa Rosa resident riding for Rabobank, has finished in the top 10 in two Tours de France (eighth in 2002 and ninth in 2004) and placed third overall at the 2001 Tour of Spain. Julich and Leipheimer will be riding on a mixed team. Rodriguez, the current U.S. Professional Champion and stage winner at the 2004 Tour of Italy, will lead the Italian Aqua e Sapone team. Rodriguez is the current Pro Cycling Tour point’s leader.

As for Armstrong and his USPS team, the squad will feature at least five teammates who rode alongside Armstrong in his record sixth Tour victory – Portugal’s Jose Azevedo (5th overall, 2004 Tour de France), Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov (Silver medalist, 2004 Olympic time trial), American George Hincapie (winner of the inaugural San Francisco race in 2001), and Spain’s Jose Luis Rubiera, and Benjamin Noval. The 2003 T-MOBILE INTERNATIONAL champion, Chris Horner, and 2002 champion, Charles Dionne, both of Webcor, will be racing as well.Other major international European cyclists scheduled to ride in the
T-MOBILE INTERNATIONAL, presented by BMC Software, include Swedish cyclist
Magnus Backstedt. Backstedt, of the Alessio Bianchi team, was a surprise
winner of this year’s Paris-Roubaix World Cup event. He also has won a Tour
de France stage in his career, in 1998. Also racing for the Alessio Bianchi
team is Italian strongman Andrea Tafi, the 1998 Italian National Champion
and winner of five World Cup events, including the 1999 Paris-Roubaix and
the 2002 Tour of Flanders. A second Italian National Champion and stage
winner in the Tour de France and the Tour of Italy, Salvatore Commesso, will
be riding in this event for Saeco. This all-star line-up is set to race at
10 a.m. This race is the season finale of the 2004 Pro Cycling Tour.

The women’s race starts at 7 a.m. at the Embarcadero near the Ferry Building
and will feature 2003 winner and former World Champion, Nicole Cooke, of the
Safi Pasta team, Olympic silver medalist Dede Demet-Barry of the women’s
T-Mobile team, and 2004 Pro Cycling Tour points’ leader Gina Grain of
Victory Brewing.

In the second year for the women’s race, there will be a record 22 teams
competing:

· Aquafina
· Bicycle John’s Serious Cycling
· Biovail/Cerevelo
· Colavita Bolla
· East Coast Velo
· Genesis Scuba FFCC
· La Grange Dassani
· Los Gatos
· McGuire Realty/24 Hour Fitness
· Morgan Stanley
· Palo Alto
· Paramount Racing
· Quark
· Red 5 Vanqua
· Safi Pasta
· Sportsbook.com
· TDS Schwalbe
· T-Mobile
· Victory Brewing
· Webcore Builders
· Wenzel Coaching/Subway Women
· Wines of Washington

The following top 20 men’s teams scheduled to compete include:

· Aqua e Sapone
· Colavita Bolla
· Domina Vacanze
· HealthNet Maxxis
· Jelly Belly
· Jet Fuel Coffee
· Jittery Joe’s Coffee
· McGuire Realty
· Monex
· Navigators Insurance
· Ofoto Lombardi
· Phonak Hearing Systems
· Prodir Saunier Duval
· Saeco/Alessio
SeaSilver
· Sharper Image
· Sierra Nevada
· Subway Express
· U.S. Postal Service
· Webcor Builders