Fabian Cancellara Signs with Team Leopard Racing

Cycling News

Fabian Cancellara Signs with Team Leopard Racing

By Reuters and RoadCycling.com
Nov 30, 2010 - 2:16:53 PM

Fabian Cancellara has signed with the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Projekt AKA Team Leopard Racing.

Four-time world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara has joined the Schleck brothers' team on a three-year deal, the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project said on Tuesday.

"The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project is thrilled to announce that it has signed Fabian Cancellara to a contract that will see the Swiss powerhouse riding for the team for the next three years," the team, who are set to hit the road next year, said in a statement.

Swiss Cancellara, who achieved a rare Tour of Flanders Paris-Roubaix classics double this year, is joining from Bjarne Riis's Saxo Bank team.

"I had many interesting options, but in the end I knew that the project in Luxembourg would have all the ingredients I would need to continue improving myself without skipping a beat," Cancellara said.

"It is a unique mix of familiar personalities with new surroundings which will ensure continuity while instilling a new motivation to make this project the most successful in cycling."

Tour de France runner-up Andy Schleck and his brother Frank also left Saxo Bank at the end of the season to launch their own team and have attracted several team mates to Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project is managed by Brian Nygaard, a former media officer at Team CSC / Team Saxo Bank and Team Sky.

Riis has signed three-times Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who failed a drugs test for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol in July.

The Spaniard has been provisionally suspended and the UCI have asked the Spanish federation to open disciplinary proceedings that are not expected to be concluded before next year.

Saxo Bank, however, have pledged support to Riis, even if Contador is suspended.

Related articles

Fabian Cancellara Signs with Team Leopard Racing - Nov 30, 2010 - 2:16:53 PM
Team Leopard Racing Signs Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke - Nov 3, 2010 - 7:22:14 AM
Stuart O'Grady Signs with Team Leopard Racing - Nov 1, 2010 - 2:18:44 PM
Jens Voigt Signs with Team Leopard True Racing - Oct 22, 2010 - 8:23:33 AM
Trek and Team Leopard True Racing Join Forces - Sep 1, 2010 - 11:23:46 AM

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Team Leopard Racing Signs Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke

Cycling News

Team Leopard Racing Signs Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke

By Thomas A. Valentinsen
Nov 3, 2010 - 7:22:14 AM

Earlier today Team Leopard Racing (also known as the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project) announced that Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke have signed contracts with the team for the 2011 season.

Leopard Racing Team manager Brian Nygaard commented "A warm welcome to Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke! Lots of talent, skill and personality...and more to come!"

Stefan Denifl moves to Team Leopard Racing from Cervelo TestTeam where the young Austrian rider has shown great potential and proved very impressive and persistent in major races during the 2010 season. Denifl finished 8th overall in the 2010 Vuelta Castilla y Leon and 7th overall in both the 2010 ?sterreich Rundfahrt and the 2010 Bayern Rundfahrt. Denifl previously rode for Team Volksbank-Voralberg (2006) and Team ELK Haus (2007-2009).

Denifl is known to pro cyclist colleagues as a reliable and trustworthy, hard working team player who is always ready to sacrifice his own chances for the team leader. His friendly and open spirit is also useful when it comes to building high spirits among team members.

Stefan Denifl is a strong climber with definite stage race potential, not least owing to his powerful time trial performance. Denifl became Austrian National Time Trial Champion in 2008. He told Roadcycling.com that he is "looking forward to this new chapter of my cycling life."

Frenchman Brice Feillu moves to Team Leopard prematurely from Team Vacansoleil after a disappointing 2010 season where Feillu has struggled with language barriers in the team and with the team atmosphere. The fact that Vacansoleil was not invited to the 2010 Tour de France was the decisive issue which made Feillu jump ship after only one season with Team Vacansoleil despite having signed with the team for both the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

25-year-old Feillu won stage 7 of the 2009 Tour de France, taking the riders from Barcelona to Arcalis in Andorra, and finished 25th overall in the race. He was immediately declared a future Tour de France winner by many French media.

Will Clarke (25, Australia) has ridden as stagiaire for AG2R in the second half of the 2010 season and won the Australian national road series in 2009. He finished 5th in stage 3 of the 2010 Tour of Wellington.

Not least Stefan Denifl and Brice Feillu should prove to be valuable helpers for Team Leopard Racing captains Frank Schleck and Andy Schleck.

Related articles

Team Leopard Racing Signs Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke - Nov 3, 2010 - 7:22:14 AM
Stuart O'Grady Signs with Team Leopard Racing - Nov 1, 2010 - 2:18:44 PM
Jens Voigt Signs with Team Leopard True Racing - Oct 22, 2010 - 8:23:33 AM
Trek and Team Leopard True Racing Join Forces - Sep 1, 2010 - 11:23:46 AM

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Stuart O'Grady Signs with Team Leopard Racing

Cycling News

Stuart O'Grady Signs with Team Leopard Racing

By AFP and Roadcycling.com
Nov 1, 2010 - 2:18:44 PM

Seasoned Tour de France campaigner Stuart O'Grady has rubber-stamped his departure from Saxo Bank by signing with the Luxembourg Cycling Project / Team Leopard Racing being led by Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck.

The Schlecks caused a minor upset recently by quitting Team Saxo Bank, owned and managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, and many of their former teammates have followed suit.

O'Grady, a former winner of the gruelling Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, has also been instrumental in Saxo Bank's successes on the Tour de France in recent years, displaying leadership qualities in his role as road captain.

His experience on the world's biggest bike race, in which the younger of the Schleck siblings, Andy, has finished runner-up the past two years, is highly-valued.

"Stuart is a real legend and probably among the most phenomenal athletes of his generation," the new team's general manager Brian Nygaard said.

"He has won everything worth winning on the track, as well as an impressive list of victories on the road, topped off by claiming one of the most beautiful recent editions of the Paris-Roubaix."

"I enjoy the challenge of being road captain," O'Grady explained.

"It is not as easy as it sounds. I have to use my knowledge, to keep the 'young guns' cool, calm and collected when the going gets tough. I remind the guys to work as a team, to support each other, to respect each other, and to give 100 percent."

Though O'Grady will be entering his 17th year as a professional, he still has personal ambitions.

"Personally I want to have another big classics season," he revealed. "I have been a bit unlucky with injuries and broken bones since winning Roubaix in 2007. So it would be nice to win some big races with the team and of course help the Schlecks win the Tour de France!"

The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project has recently signed several top names, including German trio Linus Gerdemann, Fabian Wegmann and Jens Voigt and Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang.

Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati has also joined.

Andy Schleck is likely to start the 2011 Tour de France as one of the big favourites, having finished runner-up to Spaniard Alberto Contador in 2009 and 2010.

Contador is currently provisionally suspended and awaiting word on a possible sanction after testing positive, during the 2010 race, for trace amounts of the banned weight loss/muscle building drug clenbuterol.

Team Leopard Racing is currently rumored to have been unable to secure a paying main sponsor for the team's 2011 season.

Related articles

Stuart O'Grady Signs with Team Leopard Racing - Nov 1, 2010 - 2:18:44 PM
Jens Voigt Signs with Team Leopard True Racing - Oct 22, 2010 - 8:23:33 AM
Trek and Team Leopard True Racing Join Forces - Sep 1, 2010 - 11:23:46 AM

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