January 29, 2010 (Toronto, ON) – Canada’s most acclaimed cyclist, Steve Bauer, was the point man at a swank gathering of supporters, sponsors, media, friends and family at the Royal Ontario Museum in downtown Toronto on Thursday evening to introduce the roster for the 2010 Spidertech powered by Planet Energy Team.

MC for the evening was former Olympian and multi-decorated track star, Curt Harnett, while special guests included the likes of Serge Arsenaut (Grand Prix Cycliste), the man who is bringing men’s pro road cycling back to Canada with back-to-back ProTours this September, first in Quebec City and then in Montreal. Also on hand for the evening festivities were Bauer’s parents, Hank and Fran.

The event served double duty as both the team presentation and a fundraising auction with all proceeds going to support the team’s 2010 program. One special auction item up for grabs was Bauer’s final yellow jersey of his amazing cycling career during his 14-day stint in yellow at the 1990 Tour. He remarked that the idea came to him while watching the Olympic torch relay making its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. He thought that if it was his goal to see another Canadian in the yellow jersey, then he too, should pass the torch. Bauer’s dream is to take a Canadian team, consisting primarily of Canadian riders, to the Tour de France in 2012.

This marks the 3rd year for Team Spidertech powered by Planet Energy and true to Bauer’s goal, 13 of the 15 riders on the squad are Canadian. In addition they’ll be racing aboard Canada’s Argon 18 bikes, and are backed by a diverse partnership of Canadian companies including Spidertech, Planet Energy, Saputo, Catalyst Capital Group and Blackberry.

The team has grown in size for 2010 and as Bauer put it, “We added depth, specifically depth in youth.” Bauer sought riders that would help the team in the sprints and on the climbs, essentially scooping up the best young talent Canada had to offer, “Guillaume Boivin, Simon Lambert-Lemay and Stephane Cossette are all strong and very fast and David Boily has lots of potential. We first saw Flavio de Luna Davila at Telmex and he can climb.” Bauer feels that these five, despite their young age (all are 20 years old), have begun to show great potential.

Simon Lambert-Lemay has returned to North America after a season racing for Davitmon-Lotto’s feeder team. He will bring strength and speed in the sprints. Stephane Cossette is known for his sprinting and while he will continue to focus on his track program he will join the team for select events. David Boily burst onto the scene at the Tour de l’Atibiti and since then has been making a name for himself as a capable all rounder, placing 4th at the U23 National Time trial in St. Georges last June.

Boivin has already had a chance to prove his potential winning the Canadian Road Nationals last year outright. Because of his young age, Boivin was awarded the U23 title. That ride put Boivin on Bauer’s radar and he rode with the team as a stagaire at last year’s Tour de Missouri. During his second day in the pro ranks, he managed to crack the top 10 with a strong 9th place on Stage 2. Boivin, along with the rest of the leadout train went on to help team leader Martin Gilbert to a spectacular win on Stage 7.

Gilbert’s victory would be the only time during the Tour of Missouri that a rider from a North America-based team would stand atop the podium. What makes that all the more remarkable was that Gilbert was also a full time student at University in 2009. With the confidence gained from his win, Gilbert decided to put school on hold and returns focused on success in 2010.

The bulk of the team is also returning, including former Canadian National Champions Francois Parisien and Andrew Randell. Sprinter Keven Lacombe is back looking to improve upon his 6th place finish at Philly in 2008. The team’s most consistant rider is Ryan Roth and look for him to be riding tempo on the front, excelling at time trials and taking a shot for the overall at Tour de Beauce.

Both Bruno Langlois and Eric Boily are opportunistic riders who can be counted upon to be in the mix at any one day race. While still quite young, Mark Batty has been on the team longer than anyone, joining in 2005 when they were still Gearsracing.com. His goals are to continue to work hard, learn and contribute to team wins. Charly Vives is back and looks to make an impact in one-day races over rolling terrain. The team has also acquired former Slipsteam rider Lucas Eusar for 2010. Eusar, who showed great promise while at Slipstream, is on the comeback trail after being hit by a car while training in Europe. He said what originally attracted to the team was of their focus on longer harder UCI level races as opposed to NRC crits.

The team hopes that their success in Missouri will lead to an invite to the Tour of California in May. In preparation Bauer will have the team racing at the Vuelta a Cuba, Vuelta Independencia Nacional in the Dominic Republic and the Vuelta Ciclista al Uruguay. “We need our guys to race,” states Bauer “North America lacks spring stage races and it’s not in the budget to go to Europe. When we go to California, we need to be ready.” While California remains a big objective, June and September will be very important months for the team. June brings the TD Bank International Cycling Championship, Tour de Beauce and Canadian Nationals.

The team will travel to Europe in August contesting stage races like the Tour of Ireland, Tour de l’Ain and Tour du Limousin in order to be on top form for the ProTour races in Montreal and Quebec City in September. ProTour organizer Arsenault quipped that Bauer had contacted him saying that travelling to races in Europe for extended periods of time was not in the team’s budget and wondered if Arsenault could bring some ProTour races to Canada instead.

Both the Quebec City and Montreal courses are quite familiar to members of the team and although Bauer concedes that the competition will be tough, he knows the courses lend themselves to breaks forming, “You never know, a group of 15 could get away and that could be it. We want to be aggressive, we want someone in that group.” If Bauer’s pedigree is any indication look for Spidertech p/b Planet Energy to be an opportunistic team constantly on the attack. With their new signings they’re ready to be a factor in the GC at stage races in South America, the Tour de Beauce and any race coming down to a sprint.

Spidertech powered by Planet Energy Team

Returning Riders
– Mark Batty
– Guillaume Boivin
– Éric Boily
– Martin Gilbert
– Keven Lacombe
– Bruno Langlois
– François Parisien
– Andrew Randell
– Ryan Roth
– Charly Vives

New Riders
– David Boily
– Stephane Cossette
– Flavio De Luna
– Lucas Euser
– Simon Lambert-Lemay

Director Sportif – Steve Bauer
Manager – Josée Larocque