Jim Anderson
Looks good for 800.com Women's Team and Tour of Willamete, taken from
cyclingnews.com
800.com, Tour of Willamette get bigger budgets for 2001
By John Alsedek, cyclingnews.com correspondent
Racing fans in the Pacific Northwest have two more reasons to
smile, as Peter Kukula of Northwest Pro Cycling has just announced good
news
regarding a pair of Oregon cycling fixtures: the 800.COM Women's
Cycling Team and the Tour of Willamette. To start with, 800.COM has both
re-upped for the 2001 season, but has also increased its
financial committment, thereby allowing the team, which features Cascade
Classic stage
winner Lysle Wilhelmi and former Olympian Maureen Vergara, to do
a full national schedule next year.
The situation has been further improved by an increased
committment from bicycle sponsor Bianchi (the company's only major
national road
sponsorship); the return of 2000 team sponsors Heritage
Consulting Group, Volkswagen, Profile, Spinergy, CytoMax, Vittoria, and
Vetta; and a
prospective additional cash sponsor that will be announced as
early as mid-November. The 800.COM Women's Cycling Team will be
announcing its 2001 roster in November at a press party in
Portland, Oregon, with training camp to be held in Santa Rosa,
California in February.
Meanwhile, things are looking promising for the six day Tour of
Willamette. Widely considered to be one of the country's toughest stage
races,
the Oregon event looks set to fix a long-standing problem - a
lack of financial resources - as Northwest Pro Cycling is on the verge
of finalizing
agreements with two sponsors that will give the Tour of
Willamette a significant influx of cash for 2001. But that's not all:
there will also be a
change in venue for 2001, as Cottage Grove, first visited by the
race in 2000, will become the official host city of the Tour of
Willamette. More
information to follow in the near future.