November 09, 2013 (Alberta) – Team SmartStop’s co-owner Jamie Bennett is excited to have signed three Canadian riders for 2014 including reigning national road champ Zach Bell, veteran BC rider Rob Britton, and up-and-coming Alberta U23 rider, Kris Dahl.

Dahl rode for the team at the Tour of Alberta as a result of a collaboration with Banff BikeFest that saw the top U23 Alberta rider at the Banff stage race earn a berth on the team – read more here. Dahl, who was with H&R Block, finished 99th at the Tour of Alberta.

“I love the idea of a UCI team that has cross-border relationships with Canada. Being a Canadian living in the USA I’m proud to have a team getting UCI invitations that can showcase talented athletes from both countries,” Bennett, who’s originally from Red Deer, Alberta, told Pedal.

“Dahl had proven himself at the Tour of Alberta and we were excited to see his growth. Britton has had a great career as a go-to guy at some of the toughest stage races. And having the national champion jersey in Bell will make sure the world knows this team has Canadian roots with his prowess for stage wins,” continued Bennett.

Britton was with Team Raleigh UK last year and Bissell before that, whereas Bell was a former SpiderTech p/b C10 rider who went to Champion Systems after SpiderTech ended. With the collapse of Champion, where Bell raced with fellow Canuck Ryan Roth also a former Canadian road champ, Bell landed on Team SmartStop. No word yet on Roth.

According to Bennett title sponsor SmartStop will be increasing its support and recently retired Michael Creed, of WorldTour fame, is now the newly minted team director. After seeing how well things went at the Tour of Albert Bennett has his eye on bigger races in North America where he hopes the revamped squad will shine.

2014 Team SmartStop Roster:

– Kristofer Dahl
– Flavio De Luna
– Shane Kline
– Eric Marcotte
– Travis McCabe
– Adam Myerson
– Zach Bell
– Rob Britton
– Cameron Cogburn
– Shane Haga
– Julien Kyer
– Mike Torckler