BiciRace.com :: News :: November 2005

News :: November 2005

23 November 2005

2006 Milram Team Colors

New Kit, photo: Milram

Milram is the new Italian-German squadra of Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel. The squadra was formed from Domina Vacanze (Italy) and Team Wiesenhof (Germany). The boys should be the meanest sprint team on the block. You will no longer see Zabel in pink or Ale-Jet in white/blue when crossing the line, next year they will both be in light blue. The color of the kits, to be produced by Santini, represents the company's logo. Here we have a photo of some lovely ladies (not riders for 2006) modeling the new jersey.

Read:
Milram Builds with Neo-Pros, 25 October
Milram Gets Zabel At The Line, 13 October
Petacchi Rides For Milram in 2006, 24 September

Gerolsteiner for 2006

Bubbly Bus, photo: BiciRace.com

The Bubbly water team, Gerolsteiner, of Theo Maucher will continue with a consistent lineup in 2006. Maucher has a contract with Gerolsteiner that provides sponsorship through the 2008 season. This permits the squadra to continue to strengthen their position as Germany's most recognized team (behind that other pink team).

Leipheimer Tops Deutschland, photo: Capture-The -Peloton.com

The highlight of the team for the 2005 season was Levi Leipheimer's overall win in their home tour, the Deutschland Tour. The low point must have been their lack of overall firepower in the big tour, the Tour de France. LL did manage a 5th (err, 6th) overall in the Tour de France, which was a super performance after two years struggling with Rabobank. With a strong push the team could put LL on the podium in the 2006 Tour.

Totschnig At Tour, photo: CyclingTime.com

The Deutschland Tour was a Gerolsteiner romping that came down to an 'Epic Mountain Fistfight' on stage 7. Georg Totschnig and the LL did tag-team tactics until they had eliminated the main GC opposition, which included a strong Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile). It was team riding the way it should be, but tactics that are hard to reproduce over a three week tour.

Wegmann Wins, photo: Capture-The -Peloton.com

Other Highlights: The day long slog by Totschnig (34) in the hot Pyrenees to win stage 14 to Ax-3 Domaines. And in the Vuelta a España young (21) Heinrich Haussler pulled off a surprising stage 19 to Alcobendas. On the same day as Haussler's win, but over in Poland, Fabian Wegmann (25) won the 5th stage of the Tour de Pologne. The stage was under horrible conditions, but Wegmann used the strength that saw him win the San Francisco Grand Prix 12 days earlier.

For 2006 we hope to see more of the Italian, Davide Rebellin (34). Rebellin had a huge 2004 season, and 2005 was very dry in comparison. Expect to see Tin-Tin with another huge one-day win in 2006.

New Bubbly Water Boys:
David Kopp (from Team Wiesenhof)
Stefan Schumacher (from Shimano-Memory Corp)
Torsten Hiekmann (from T-Mobile)

Riders Leaving:
Marco Serpellini (to Unibet)
Thomas Ziegler (to T-Mobile)
Torsten Schmidt (to Wiesenhof-Akud)
Uwe Peschel (Retire)

Returning Riders:
Andrea Moletta
Beat Zberg
Davide Rebellin
Fabian Wegmann
Frank Hoj
Georg Totschnig
Heinrich Haussler
Levi Leipheimer
Marcel Strauss
Marcus Zberg
Markus Fothen
Matthias Russ
Michael Rich
Peter Wrolich
René Haselbacher
Robert Förster
Ronny Scholz
Sebastian Lang
Sven Krauss
Sven Montgomery
Tony Martin
Volker Ordowski

Read:
Double Day for Gerolsteiner, 17 September
Rebellin Continues In Cool Blue, 24 August
BiciRace.com interview with Levi Leipheimer, 27 June

22 November News ...