The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team has confirmed that NEILPRYDE has signed on as the official bike sponsor of the US based pro continental team for 2012. The team will unveil the new 2012 racing bikes during its training camp in Rancho Mirage, California (Palm Springs area), on 11-13 January 2012.
NEILPRYDE has been involved in top-level athlete sponsorship since the 1970s, focusing to date on its windsurfing products, and acquiring more than 40 World Championship titles. Neil Pryde, the founder of Neil Pryde Limited (established in 1970), noted that the company’s product development and technical innovation – through constant testing in the most demanding conditions – has always been the focus of its research and development program.
Pryde said, “The NEILPRYDE line of bikes was established in 2010 in collaboration with BMW Group Designworks USA as its design partner. It was designed with racing in mind and we are very proud to be the official frame and fork sponsor of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team.
“Our partnership with the team allows us to further refine the award-winning NEILPRYDE Diablo and Alize by incorporating pro level team riders into our integrated R&D process, working with our in-house engineers, and this collaboration will certainly drive the development of exciting new models such as the Bayamo and Bura.”
Commenting on the bikes the team will ride this season, Directeur Sportif, Mike Tamayo, said, “Our athletes will be riding the Diablo model of the NEILPRYDE line, their carbon flagship. The carbon frame is a perfect match for the various terrains that Team UnitedHealthcare will have to tackle in 2012. The Diablo offers stiffness for acceleration while remaining lightweight. More exciting will be the Exoskeleton technology (proprietary to NEILPRYDE) that improves the lateral stiffness; in turn making it an amazing cornering machine.”
Speaking about the partnership between NEILPRYDE and the team, Michael Pryde, the Division Manager at NEILPRYDE Bikes Division, stated, “The core values of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team and its management company Momentum Sports Group LLC are closely aligned with ours and we look forward to many years of collaboration with racing at the highest level throughout the US, Europe and new cycling markets in Asia.”
Gregory Raifman, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team’s Chairman & CEO, added, “We are pleased to be working with NEILPRYDE and we look forward to a very solid year together. We are confident Neil Pryde Limited will be a great partner, meet our riders’ needs and help our organization continue to grow in the right direction.”
The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team presentation is slated for Thursday 12 January 2012 at Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, California, and will close out the team’s training camp. Thereafter, the team will head to Argentina to kick off its 2012 campaign at the Tour de San Luis (23-29 January), before heading to Spain for the Volta ao Algarve (15-19 February), and then on to Malaysia’s Tour of Langkawi (24 February – 4 March).
The early season racing calendar will see the team in Europe, North and South America and Asia before returning stateside for its first US race, the Tampa Twilight Criterium on 31 March.
