Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Hosts “The First Show”
Omega Pharma – Quick-Step | January 13, 2012
Equipped with the best new Specialized bikes and gear, advanced approaches to bike fit and training, and a bolstered cast of all-star riders, Team Omega Pharma – Quick-Step is ready for its most successful season ever.
On Friday outside of Brussels, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step put on a big show for the press and public, with Sylvain Chavanel climbing on a Harley Davidson, Zdenek Stybar explaining his affinity for pink, and Tom Boonen and the rest of the team’s stars explaining why 2012 will be their best yet. Dubbed “The First Show,” the Omega Pharma – Quick-Step presentation gave great insight into the riders’ lives and their motivations as they race into the season with Specialized.
Belgium’s best team has always been a force in the Classics. On Friday, Team Director Patrick Lefevere said the team now must be competitive throughout the season.
With the addition of riders like World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin and accomplished stage racers like Levi Leipheimer and Peter Velits, the team certainly will be.
To give the team an advantage in every situation, Specialized is providing a complete range of purpose-built bikes: the aerodynamically superior Venge, the super-light and super-stiff Tarmac, the ultra-smooth and ultra-fast Roubaix and, for the time trials, the World Championship-winning Shiv.
The team has improved its training with a focus on each rider’s specific needs, and a new training facility is in the works. “It’s a real revolution,” said team trainer Koen Pelgrim. “There is no other team that’s going to have this kind of facility for testing and training.”
At The First Show, all the marquee riders had a chance to speak. World Cyclocross Champion Zdenek Stybar explained the color of his Specialized Crux that he used to win his sixth Czech Republic National Championship. “When Specialized made its first cyclocross bike, a cyclocross-looking mountain bike, in 1983, it was pink,” Stybar said. “I have renewed the tradition to start again with a pink bike.”
Three-time Paris-Roubaix winner Tom Boonen is especially eager to hit top form from Milan-San Remo in mid-March through Paris-Roubaix in mid-April. As with many riders, he is eager for the new Tour of Flanders, which has changed its route for 2012. “It will be a very hard race, and maybe a little different rider can come to the front in this situation because of the longer and harder efforts,” he said. “But in the end, the big names from the last few years will still be there in the final. It’s a goal for everyone I think to win the first new Tour of Flanders.”
After winning the 2011 World Time Trial Championships on a Specialized Shiv, Tony Martin said many teams were courting him. He chose Omega Pharma – Quick-Step because of the quality of the people. “I really took my time to speak to every manager of every interested team,” he said. “I had a really good meeting with Patrick. I’m a boy that decides from the stomach; I had the best feeling with Patrick, and he showed me some opportunities for the future.” Martin hopes his future will include victory at Worlds and the Olympic Games.
Some Omega Pharma – Quick-Step riders chimed in via video from around the world. Gert Steegmans and his Tour Down Under teammates called in on Skype from Australia. And Levi Leipheimer, who is training at home in California in preparation for the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, said, “2011 was one of my best seasons ever, and I’m looking forward to 2012 with the new team.”
Watch The First Show video here, and be sure to check IamSpecialized.com throughout the racing season for news, photos and video of Omega Pharma – Quick-Step.