June 30, 2004 -When Team CSC rides from Liège on July 3 to defend its team title at Tour de France 2004, the riders will again be using Canadian-designed Cervélo bikes.

Last year, the first for the partnership between Cerv̩lo Cycles and Team CSC, they won the team title as well as three stages of the Tour de France Рall atop Cerv̩lo bikes!

According to Bicycling.com: “After modest beginnings, the Danish CSC team has turned into a world cycling power. Led last year by American Tyler Hamilton, the team this year will focus its attention on new recruit Ivan Basso of Italy. Seventh last year, a certain Mr. Armstrong considers him a very real threat. But he will have plenty of company as director Bjarne Riis built one of the best bench squads in the off-season led by workhorse riders like German Jens Voigt or American Bobby Julich.”

“Like last year Team CSC will ride a variety of models in the 2004 Tour,” said Gerard Vroomen, co-founder of Cervélo. “For most of its early-season victories the team has used the Soloist model. Team CSC is currently the number one team in the world rankings so there is good reason to stick with the bike model they have enjoyed their successes on. That said, we have just introduced a brand new version of the R2.5 to the market, a carbon frame weighing in at a svelte 1000g, 200g lighter than last year’s version. The team won three stages in last year’s Tour on R2.5s, so I think we’ll see the riders use this new version for quite a few stages.”

Even though the new R2.5 is one of the lightest frames for sale in the world, it has not come at the expense of durability and safety as it passes the toughest laboratory tests with flying colors. “We are fanatical about testing,” explains Phil White, the other co-founder, “as we never want to see a problem develop with one of our frames. So, we take the toughest industry standard, the DIN, and then test our frames to over twice that standard just to make absolutely sure. “For the time trials, the team will rely on the Cervélo P3. Time trial bikes usually don’t get that much attention from bike manufacturers since it is a small market, but as the market leader Cervélo has always focused on it. The P3 is the benchmark for the industry, not just because of its superior aerodynamics but also because it handles so well. Ivan Basso, Team CSC’s Tour de France leader and not known for his time trial prowess, has made great progress this year after switching to the P3. Basso comments that, “the Cervélo time trial bike handles just as well as our other road bikes. I have never experienced that with any other time trial bike. I love how it carves through the corners.”

To further help Basso and Team CSC co-leader Carlos Sastre with their time trial skills, both came over to Boston to improve their riding positions in the MIT wind tunnel with the help of Cervélo and the MIT Center for Sports Innovation. The improvements found in Boston quickly showed on the roads back in Europe, where Sastre finished sixth in the Tour de Luxembourg time trial while Basso finished fourth in the Italian championships, much better results than they had ever achieved before this season.