October 2, 2007 – Agritubel, a French-based Pro Cycling team that raced at the 2007 Tour de France, will ride Kuota bikes in 2008. While the not yet officially announced Patrice Lemieux, owner and CEO of Kuota North America, has confirmed that “everything is signed” and Kuota is excited about this new development.

Agritubel, although not a UCI ProTour team, was invited to the 2006 and 2007 TdF as “wildcard” squad. The team made news recently by signing French cycling champion Christophe Moreau, 36, for the 2008 season. Moreau rode with Ag2r Prevoyance in 2007.

Agritubel remains a “wildcard” team in 2008 but is expected to compete at all Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) races in 2008, including the TdF and Paris-Roubaix according to Lemieux. “The team’s top dogs are Christophe Moreau (Fra) a TdF contender, Romain Feillu (Fra) “Puncher”, Steven Caethoven (Bel) a Classics rider, Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) “Barodeur”, and Eduardo Gonzalo & Mikel Gaztanaga (Esp) both pure climbers.

While no North Americans currently ride on the team, Canada’s Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) was considered for the 2008 squad but this did not materialize.”

Agritubel 2008 roster includes:

– Christophe Moreau
– Emilien-Benoit Berges
– Freddy Bichot
– Steven Caethoven
РC̩dric Coutouly
– Romain Feillu
– Mikel Gaztanaga
– Eduardo Gonzalo
РC̩dric Herve
– Kevyn Ista
– Nicolas Jalabert
– Geoffroy Lequatre
– Anthony Ravard
– Benoit Salmon
– Benoit Sinner
– Nicolas Vogondy

The team website currently lists 16 sponsors, including the primary sponsor, Agritubel, a major manufacturer of tubular metal products for agriculture. Deda will supply the team with bars/stem/tubular, Tacx will supply trainers, bottle holders & bottles, SRAM will supply its New Red road group, Fizik the saddles, and Reynolds will provide carbon wheel sets. “Kuota will provide various bike models: sprinters will ride on Kredo Ultra, while for the all the other road races, including the Tour, they will ride the KOM. For TTs, cyclists will ride the Kueen-K,” added Lemieux.

Lemieux continued, “Kuota North America will focus on the TT approach with the help of Mr. TT himself, Dan Empfield, the editor and publisher of the popular on-line triathlon news website, Slowtwitch.com. Meanwhile, in Europe, Mario Comalli (Kuota Owner), Maurizio Canzi (Kuota VP Sales), and the Kuota France guys will help the team with the road side of things.”