Will Routley's expertise on the road will be one of the main weapons in Canada's arsenal as Team SpiderTech unveiled a 17-man roster for the 2012 international cycling campaign in Toronto.
Routley, of Whistler, B.C., is the 2010 Canadian road champion and silver medalist in last year's national road championship.
The team has three new recruits with international experience and 14 returnees from the club which spent 130 days on international roads last season. The ultimate goal is to send a Canadian team to the sport's gem, the Tour de France, where team co-founder Steve Bauer became a Canadian cycling icon as a rider who took – and kept for several days – the leader's yellow jersey.
Besides Routley, the team's top cyclists include Guillaume Boivin of Longueuil, Que., the bronze medalist at the 2010 UCI (cycling's international governing body) Road World Championship under-23 road race; David Boily of Quebec City, best climber at the Giro di Sardegna and five stages in the yellow jersey and second overall at the Tour de l'Avenir; Olympic veteran Zach Bell of Watson Lake, and Hugo Houle of Ste-Perpétue, Que., two-time under-23 Canadian Champion.
To complement the returning riders for Canada's first pro-continental team, Olympic silver medal winner Bauer and team manager Josée Larocque have also tapped into the talent pool from professional World Tour teams.
"Pro cycling is a business and strong riders have options to sign with various teams, all teams must market themselves to riders to attract top talent. I am thrilled that we were able to recruit Caleb Fairly of Amarillo, Texas and Bjorn Selander of Hudson, Wisconsin. These riders bring a wealth of international experience and impressive racing resumes." Bauer said.
Last season, Fairly took part in 28 World Tour events with Team HTC-Highroad, including the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et de Montréal. The previous season, he rode for World Tour Team Garmin-Transitions as a trainee, with whom he won the 2010 Tour of the Battenkill and finished third in the Giro della Toscana.
Selander last year rode with Team RadioShack, taking part in the Giro d'Italia as well as Paris-Roubaix. The previous season, he rode Paris-Roubaix, the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour of Poland, all World Tour races. In 2009, riding with Trek-Livestrong, he finished fifth at the Tour de Beauce, including a second place in the final stage of the tour.
Bauer. one of only two Canadians to wear the leader's yellow jersey at the Tour de France, believes the team will be extremely competitive in 2012, both in Europe and North America. In 2011, Team SpiderTech powered by C10 scored eight wins in UCI races, 30 podiums and more than 60 top-10 finishes.
The team will depart for Europe in early January for pre-season training with the race season starting in late January. The team will release a full 2012 race schedule in January.