May 2, 2003

Hamilton, CSC leads roster of Bell road teams

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - American Tyler Hamilton and his Danish CSC team lead the roster of Bell sponsored professional road cycling teams for the 2003 season. Also wearing Bell this season are international Division I squads Credit Agricole (France) and Team Fakta (Denmark), as well as US domestic pro squads 7-Up/Maxxis, Health Net and the Diet Rite women's team.

"We've got a really good mix of high profile international and US-based teams," said Bell Sports Marketing Coordinator Dan O'Connor. "That should translate into a good presence for us in everything from the Classics to the Grand Tours to the best races stateside."

Hamilton recently took the biggest win of his career in one of those Classics, Belgium's Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He also had a strong second place finish in the Grand Tour he focused on last year, the Giro d'Italia. His runner-up placing came despite suffering several injuries-a broken shoulder among them-during the three-week tour.

Hamilton is surrounded by a strong team of international standouts that includes Carlos Sastre (Spain), Adrea Tafi (Italy), Andrea Peron (Italy), Lennie Kristensen (Denmark) and Nicolas Jalabert (France).

CSC has elected to skip the Giro d'Italia this year and focus on the Tour de France and will wear the Team CSC edition Ghisallo road helmet as well as the new Bell Meteor time trial fairing.

Credit Agricole's lineup is equally stellar and features tour specialist Christoph Moreau (France), sprinter Stuart O'Grady (Australia), and single day threats Jens Voigt (Germany) and Thor Hushovd (Norway).

Fakta is an up-and-coming team that's led by Scott Sunderland (Australia),Magnus Backstedt (Sweden) and Frank Hoj (Denmark). The team has had some strong early season results and hopes to make name for itself in the 2003 Giro d'Italia.

On the North American scene, Health Net is lead by Canadian sprinter Gord Fraiser, while 7-Up/Maxxis is anchored by John Leiswyn and Chris Pic. The Diet Rite team is led by Pic's wife, the always-in-contention Tina Mayolo-Pic.