Team Barloworld are heading off to Italy from Thursday 17 - Saturday 26 January to prepare for what is planned to be a busy and hopefully successful season of racing. Already set up at the Hotel Marinetta at Marina di Bibbona on the Tuscan coast, are Robert Hunter, Chris Froome and Daryl Impey- eagerly awaiting the arrival of the remaining riders.
Team manager Claudio Corti and Directeur Sportifs Alberto Volpi and Valerio Tebaldi have planned a busy nine days for the riders, with fitness assessments, medical checks, meetings with new riders (10 out of a total of 20 in the team) and the programming of the team’s race schedule and season objectives. The full squad will also go through team building exercises as well as a full Barloworld induction.
“It was the success of the 2007 season training camp that determined which individual team objectives were set, negotiated and agreed upon- which ultimately culminated in Team Barloworld receiving an invitation to the Tour de France and lead to the success of our sponsorship objectives.
Led by team manager, Claudio Corti, we are aiming for the same success for 2008 and the team will have to work hard in order to achieve this and many other goals that will be set. In addition, the team’s success has secured this year’s sponsorships with Bianchi, Barloworld Automotive, Barloworld Equipment, Hyster and Cycle Lab,” says Chris Fisher, Head of Corporate Marketing at Barloworld.
In combining Team Barloworld’s culture of teamwork and individual excellence with its brand personality, a decision was made by Barloworld to invite two under 23 riders from the newly formed Toyota Supercycling Academy to attend training camp with the 2008 team.
The two riders that will fly out to Italy are David Maree and Ruan Benson- both chosen from an impressive young team based on their experience and of course, talent.
Maree achieved best climber in his age category during 2007 and plans to ride his way to the Giro del Capo this year. Benson’s cycling career began at the age of 10 and in 2007; he came second in the Best Young Riders category. Benson achieved five victories and nine podiums last year and aims to become a professional rider by 2011.
“Barloworld is committed to developing local talent and we thought this as the ideal opportunity for the team to inspire and motivate this new talent and for them to be able to observe, share in the team’s preparations for 2008. We also hope that this experience will help them in reaching their own personal and professional goals” concludes Fisher.
Team Barloworld will be competing in their first race of the season which takes place in South Africa at the Intaka Tech Worlds View Challenge, in Pietermaritzburg, between the 2nd and 7th of February 2008. Here, Team Barloworld will be competing with Pro-Tour teams Liquigas and Milram.
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