2009 ProTour teams

Peter@vecchios said:

It's winter, and this is a discussion group. This isn't a invitation to start any this group vs that group warfare. I just think it's interesting. Just got my new Velonews and they announced the 16 ProTour teams for 2009. 10 are equipped with Campagnolo, 5 with shimano and 1 with sram.

What I find interesting is that the smallest company is doing the most ProTour sponsorship. How Mavic neutral support is gonna have to have 11s wheels and Riis equipping his team with Campagnolo. I have often read he is a big fan of shimano, even buying his shimano gruppos for CSC last year. They must have made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

The lack of sram sponsorship is surprising to me. perhaps they are going to concentrate on lower tier teams..who knows.

I thought 11s was backwards compatible with 10s freehubs?

Are you sure Saxobank are on Campag this year. O'Grady definitely has Shimano on his bike at the TDU

Have you had much experience with the sram stuff Peter? A mate's wife rides as a pro (well, semi-pro) in the US and uses sram. My mate reckons they have had heaps of problems with it. Broken (i.e snapped) levers, noisy cassettes that don't run well, snapped chains IIRC

classic1 said:

I thought 11s was backwards compatible with 10s freehubs?

Are you sure Saxobank are on Campag this year. O'Grady definitely has Shimano on his bike at the TDU

Have you had much experience with the sram stuff Peter? A mate's wife rides as a pro (well, semi-pro) in the US and uses sram. My mate reckons they have had heaps of problems with it. Broken (i.e snapped) levers, noisy cassettes that don't run well, snapped chains IIRC

It is but mavic is going to need 10s wheels and 11s wheels on top of their car for Neutral support.

Just going by what Velonews said. Riis was a big fan of shimano, perhaps that is a typo. Yep, Ogrady and 7900, just looked at the pic. Methinks it's a mistake.

We have installed and worked on a lot of sram, both MTB and road.

Broken chains were not uncommon. Not so much now but I think most sram users use a shimano 10s chain. We have warrantied 3 sram levers. None that broke, they just didn't work. Mystery clicks(?). The Powerdome is noisy. I think because it's hollow. I talked to a guy 2 nights ago who is an outside rep in Texas. He says some bike shops around his area have had customers return sram equipped bikes and insist on a shimano group be installed.

Just looked at the team home page and they are still sponsored by FSA.

Using FSA cranks would mean nobody else will give them drivetrain gear. I wonder when we will see Saxo on FSA prototype parts...?

Mavic have always had to have Shimano.Sram 10spd and Campy wheels. OK now they have to be Campy 11 spd.

I am surprised only one sram team. Maybe they are sponsoring a lot of continental teams? Have they made much of a dent in Europe? Maybe they are concentrating on the US and Asia more?

I'd be interested to see the wheelset brake down as well. Anybodt NOT using ZIPP, Shimano, Mavic, Campy/fulcrum?? Oh Astana will be on Bontrager of course...

Phill P said:

I am surprised only one sram team. Maybe they are sponsoring a lot of continental teams? Have they made much of a dent in Europe? Maybe they are concentrating on the US and Asia more?

Off the top of my head, Astana's treks, Milram's Focuses, and Fuji-Servetto's Fuji's are all Red equipped. That article seems to have several errors

Wait till FSA RELEASE THEIR GROUP FOR 2010. MAVIC WILL HAVE SOMETHING OUT SOON TOO...........

Saxobank rides Specialized so it's going to be either SRAM Red or Shimano Dura-Ace.

LewisBricktop said:

Off the top of my head, Astana's treks, Milram's Focuses, and Fuji-Servetto's Fuji's are all Red equipped. That article seems to have several errors

Right you are. Still surprising to me that Campagnolo, smallest company and if Velonews is accurate, has so many in the ProTour. 3 Sram, 4 shimano.

I wonder how it plays out if you look at the countries the teams are based in and compare that to where the component manufacturers are making bank.

Examples:

US = Columbia and Garmin both on Shimano
Italy = Leakygas and Lampre both on Campy
France = Teams usually ride Campy
Germany = Milram on Sram (used to be Shimano as was Gerolsteiner)
Belgium = Quickstep and SL on Campy
Spain = Seems to be well mixed

I don't have any sales or advertising data by country. Does anyone else have any?

LewisBricktop said:

I wonder how it plays out if you look at the countries the teams are based in and compare that to where the component manufacturers are making bank.

Examples:

US = Columbia and Garmin both on Shimano
Italy = Leakygas and Lampre both on Campy
France = Teams usually ride Campy
Germany = Milram on Sram (used to be Shimano as was Gerolsteiner)
Belgium = Quickstep and SL on Campy
Spain = Seems to be well mixed

I don't have any sales or advertising data by country. Does anyone else have any?

You sure about Quickstep? Quickstep rides Specialized bikes and those are fitted out with Shimano or SRAM.

cyclingnews.comTDU09Open ↗

Here is Davis winning stage 4 of the TDU with his 2009 11sp Campy equipped bike. Im sure. They have been on specialized w/ Campy for three years now, and rode Time w/ Campy before that

LewisBricktop said:

cyclingnews.comTDU09Open ↗

Here is Davis winning stage 4 of the TDU with his 2009 11sp Campy equipped bike. Im sure. They have been on specialized w/ Campy for three years now, and rode Time w/ Campy before that

Hm, didn't know that teams changed out the components that the bike companies put on bikes. Interesting . . . .

It appears the Quick-Step bikes are fitted with Campagnolo Super Record and the Saxo Bank bikes are fitted with Dura Ace 7900.

rosborn said:

Hm, didn't know that teams changed out the components that the bike companies put on bikes. Interesting . . . .

Just about everything for these teams are ala cart. Frames, gruppos, wheels, pedals, saddles, etc. BUT you can get a trekspecializedcannondalegiant with Campagnolo. It's just special order for most.

Peter@vecchios said:

Just about everything for these teams are ala cart. Frames, gruppos, wheels, pedals, saddles, etc. BUT you can get a trekspecializedcannondalegiant with Campagnolo. It's just special order for most.

... and a travesty for some

I find that very interesting as well. I think in recent years the share has been about 50/50. I'm happy to see Campagnolo changing it in their favor. Peter, can you post a link to that article?

I used to ride with Shimano until 2001 when I received my Record equipped custom ti bike from Rich Gangl. Campagnolo stole my heart then and every day since.

Gangltirider said:

I find that very interesting as well. I think in recent years the share has been about 50/50. I'm happy to see Campagnolo changing it in their favor. Peter, can you post a link to that article?

I used to ride with Shimano until 2001 when I received my Record equipped custom ti bike from Rich Gangl. Campagnolo stole my heart then and every day since.

Article was in the Velonews I received at home. Don't think it's on their website. That issue should be in the newstands now.

Also, for the first time in many years, Colnago will not be represented at the Pro Tour level. Rabobank are now on Giants and Milram are on Focus.

Tech72 said:

Also, for the first time in many years, Colnago will not be represented at the Pro Tour level. Rabobank are now on Giants and Milram are on Focus.

What a shame. Of the Euro brands we see/work on, Colnago is the only one that seems to have the Euro-mystique still going on. AND with all this talk about gruppos(I know, I started it), the most important part of the bike, after the rider, is the frameset.

Agreed, it's a shame that many of the pedigreed Euro marques are no longer represented at the highest pro racing level. The multi-national (US-Asian), large scale production companies like Specialized, Giant, Trek, Cannondale, etc. are taking over. No doubt these newer brands are producing top-notch rides, but I do miss the old school names like Peugeot, Gios, Masi (the original, not the new "Masi"😉, Cinelli, among others.

I suppose that in a few years and with countless wins to their names, Giants and Cannondales will be regarded as "classics" along the same line as the Colnagos and Pinarellos.