Team RadioShack was a professional road bicycle racing team, with RadioShack as the title sponsor, the creation of which was announced on July 23, 2009. Lance Armstrong co-owned and led the team, which raced in the Grand Tours and the UCI ProTour. The team was managed by Capital Sports and Entertainment, an Austin, Texas sports and event management group that also manages the Trek-Livestrong U23 development cycling team and that ran the former Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

Johan Bruyneel was Team RadioShack's initial overall managerCyclingNews.com. "Team RadioShack finalizes 2010 roster", Cycling News, 2009-11-23. Retrieved on 2009-12-23. and Dirk Demol was the directeur sportif. Former Discovery Channel cyclists Viatcheslav Ekimov from Russia and José Azevedo from Portugal was also part of the managerial squad. Armstrong said that the team would promote the Livestrong anti-cancer campaigns of his Lance Armstrong Foundation, and will also be sponsored by Trek Bicycle Corporation, SRAM Corporation and Nike, Inc. sportswear.

The team ceased to exist in its current structure from the end of the 2011 season as Radioshack returned their World Tour Licence to the UCI. Their two main sponsors, RadioShack and Nissan, moved their sponsorship to Team Leopard Trek. Sporting Director Johan Bruyneel moved to the newly named RadioShack-Nissan team along with several of the current Radioshack riders. While effectively a merge, there is some debate between the two teams as to the nature of the agreement. Radioshack described it as a merge, while Flavio Becca, owner of Leopard Trek stated that his team was continuing, and simply taking over Radioshacks sponsors, and some of their riders. The new team was registered in Luxembourg with the UCI.

Team history

2010

On November 25, 2009, The UCI ProTour Council (UPTC) announced that the team was successfully registered for the 2010 season The team's final 2010 team roster includes 26 riders from 16 countries, after Japanese rider Fumiyuki Beppu joined in February.Tyler, Richard. "RadioShack leave Beppu matter to Skil-Shimano", Cycling News, 2009-11-25. Retrieved on 2009-12-23.Skil-Shimano terminates contract with Beppu Demol and twelve of the riders were previously with the Kazakh team in the UCI ProTour, including eight of the team's nine riders on the winning team in the 2009 Tour de France. In April 2010 Li Fuyu was suspended by the team after failing a doping test.Radioshack suspends Li after doping positive

The team had planned on racing in the 2010 Tour de France and the 2010 Vuelta a España, among other races, but it controversially was not invited to the Vuelta. Team RadioShack went on to achieve the team victory of the 2010 Tour de France, while leading the team classification after about half its stages. It was the second time that an American team had won the team classification, preceded by Discovery Channel in 2007. After the Tour de France, the team promoted Taylor Phinney and Jesse Sergent from the Trek-Livestrong U23 team and Clinton Avery from the PWS Eijssen team to the RadioShack roster as "stagiaires" ("trainees" in French) for the remainder of the season.

2011

The 2011 season for began in January at the Tour Down Under, and ended in October with Robbie McEwen's participation in the Noosa Grand Prix. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.

While the team had 28 wins in 2011, and showed well enough to briefly be the leading team in the UCI World Tour rankings, they were nearly invisible in the Grand Tours, the races which have defined manager Johan Bruyneel's managerial career. A Tour de France besieged by crashes and injuries led to Haimar Zubeldia in 15th place being their best finisher, the worst showing for a Bruyneel-led team at the Tour in five years. The team's principal successes were the three major stage races in the United States, the Tour of California, the Tour of Utah, and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Team RadioShack fielded the overall winner in all three events, Chris Horner in California and Levi Leipheimer in Utah and Colorado. The team also won seven other stage races, easily the most of any major team on the season.

2011 team roster As at December 31, 2011.

2012 Bontrager-Livestrong U23 team roster As of December 31, 2012.

List of wins

2010 Stage 4 Volta ao Algarve, Sébastien Rosseler Portuguese rider classification, Tiago Machado Teams classification Teams classification Giro di Sardegna Youth classification Critérium International, Tiago Machado Teams classification Stage 2b Circuit de la Sarthe, Tiago Machado Overall Tour of the Basque Country, Chris Horner Stage 6, Chris Horner Brabantse Pijl, Sébastien Rosseler Teams classification, Vuelta a Castilla y León Teams classification, Tour de Romandie Overall Tour of the Gila, Levi Leipheimer Stage 1, Levi Leipheimer Stage 5 Tour of Belgium, Ben Hermans Teams classification Tour de Luxembourg Overall Critérium du Dauphiné, Janez Brajkovič Stage 4, Janez Brajkovič Teams classification Tour of Austria Teams classification Tour de France Stage 10, Sergio Paulinho Overall Tour de l'Ain, Haimar Zubeldia Prologue, Haimar Zubeldia Overall Tour of Utah, Levi Leipheimer Prologue, Taylor Phinney Stage 3, Levi Leipheimer Stage 4 Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Markel Irizar Prologue Tour de l'Avenir, Taylor Phinney Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Levi Leipheimer National Time Trial championships, Taylor Phinney World U23 Road Race championships, Taylor Phinney 2011 Trofeo Inca-inca, Ben Hermans Tour De Mumbai II, Robbie Hunter Overall Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta ciclista del Sol, Markel Irizar Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, Jesse Sergent Prologue Jesse Sergent Stage 5 Paris–Nice, Andréas Klöden Stage 4 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Manuel Cardoso Stage 3 Critérium International, Andréas Klöden Overall Three Days of De Panne, Sébastien Rosseler Overall Tour of the Basque Country, Andréas Klöden Stage 1 Giro del Trentino, Andréas Klöden Overall Amgen Tour of California, Chris Horner Stage 4, Chris Horner Stage 7, Levi Leipheimer National Road Race championships, Matthew Busche National Time Trial championships, Fumiyuki Beppu Overall Tour de Suisse, Levi Leipheimer National Time Trial championships, Nelson Oliveira National Road Racec championships, Fumiyuki Beppu National Time Trial championships, Janez Brajkovič Stage 1 Tour of Austria, Robert Hunter Stage 4 Tour de Wallonie, Robbie McEwen Stage 5 Eneco Tour, Jesse Sergent Overall Tour of Utah, Levi Leipheimer Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Levi Leipheimer Stages 1 & 3, Levi Leipheimer Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Jesse Sergent Stage 4, Jesse Sergent Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde, Robbie McEwen Stages 1 & 4, Robbie McEwen

Supplementary statistics Sources Grand Tours by highest finishing positionRace20102011 Giro d'Italia – 19 Tour de France 9 15 Vuelta a España – 22 Major week-long stage races by highest finishing positionRace20102011 Tour Down Under 24 15 Paris–Nice 11 2 Tirreno–Adriatico – 7 Volta a Catalunya 9 3 Tour of the Basque Country 1 1 Tour de Romandie 5 7 Critérium du Dauphiné 1 9 Tour de Suisse 2 1 Tour de Pologne 9 18 Eneco Tour 8 9 Monument races by highest finishing positionRace20102011 Milan–San Remo 14 23 Tour of Flanders 27 42 Paris–Roubaix 11 4 Liège–Bastogne–Liège 7 22 Giro di Lombardia 20 32 Classics by highest finishing position Classic20102011Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 54 –Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 9 –Strade Bianche – –E3 Harelbeke 16 41Gent–Wevelgem DNF 19Amstel Gold Race 10 8La Flèche Wallonne 7 17Clásica de San Sebastián 4 6Paris–Tours 3 7

National championships 2010 USA Road Race Ben King USA Time Trial Taylor Phinney U23 World Road Race Taylor Phinney 2011 Japan Road Race Fumiyuki Beppu Japan Time Trial Fumiyuki Beppu USA Road Race Matthew Busche Slovenia Time Trial Janez Brajkovič Portugal Time Trial Nelson Oliveira

References

External links

UCI Team Profile Building the Team RadioShack Trek Madone on YouTube Trek-Livestrong U23