The 2013 Team Presentation is tomorrow Tuesday, January 15th
One of my favorite cycling teams has repackaged and reorganized itself for 2013, with a few new team members and new equipment. Tomorrow the team is having a kick-off the season team presentation and velodrome races in Gent, Belgium, at the Eddy Merckx cycling complex. Tickets are still available via the team's website. For the rest of us, we can watch the event livestream on the team website (8:00pm to midnight in Belgium, or a very convenient 12:00pm-4:00pm MST here in the USA). For more information see OPQS Championships.
According to the team website, "The event will be broadcast live on digital channel Sport 10 in Belgium,
and also webcast via live streaming on our website. The broadcast will
start at 19:55 and last until 23:15." Team website: Omega Pharma-Quickstep
The new 2013 Omega Pharma-Quickstep list of riders
The team has an amazing proved experienced team. Including Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish, Sylvain Chavenel, Tony Martin, the Velits brothers Martin and Peter, Gert Steegmans, Niki Terpstra, Bert Grabsch, Jerome Pineau, Kristof Vandewalle and so many other excellent riders.
Omega Pharma Quickstep riders 2013 - read rider bios
Riders
BOONEN Tom
BEL
15.10.1980
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
ITA
22.08.1987
CAVENDISH Mark
GBR
21.05.1985
CHAVANEL Sylvain
FRA
30.06.1979
DE WEERT Kevin
BEL
27.05.1982
DEVENYNS Dries
BEL
22.07.1983
GOLAS Michal
POL
29.04.1984
GRABSCH Bert
GER
19.06.1975
KEISSE Iljo
BEL
21.12.1982
KWIATKOWSKI Michal
POL
02.06.1990
MAES Nikolas
BEL
09.04.1986
MARTIN Tony
GER
23.04.1985
PAUWELS Serge
BEL
21.11.1983
PINEAU Jérôme
FRA
02.01.1980
RABON Frantisek
CZE
26.09.1983
SERRY Pieter
BEL
21.11.1988
STEEGMANS Gert
BEL
30.09.1980
STYBAR Zdenek
CZE
11.12.1985
TERPSTRA Niki
NED
18.05.1984
VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
BEL
14.02.1991
VANDENBERGH Stijn
BEL
25.04.1984
VANDEWALLE Kristof
BEL
05.04.1985
VELITS Martin
SVK
21.02.1985
VELITS Peter
SVK
21.02.1985
VERMOTE Julien
BEL
26.07.1989
Neo
FENN Andrew
GBR
01.07.1990
TRENTIN Matteo
ITA
02.08.1989
VERONA QUINTANILLA Carlos
ESP
04.11.1992
2013 Omega Pharma-Quickstep team jersey
Tomorrow we will see images of the team line up in their new 2013 Omega Pharma Quickstep kits. Who else wants a helmet like Tom Boonen's helmet?
Omega Pharma team kit 2013. Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
We'll see Tom Boonen in his new Belgium National Champion jersey.
Tom Boonen in his new Belgium National jersey. Photo from OPQS team website
I can't wait to see if Tom has another incredible year. In 2012, Tom Boonen followed his win of the Tour of Qatar by winning the Flemish cobblestone quadruple of E3 Harelbeke, Gent–Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. The first cyclist ever to achieve all four monumental wins in the same season. Later in the season he also won World Ports Classic and Paris–Brussels. He was also part of the 6-man World Cahmpion Team Time Trail team. I am a huge Tommeke fan, aren't we all.
Also on the roster is Polish National Champion Michal Golas.
Michal Golas is the Polish National Champion. Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Also Niki Terpstra, the current Dutch National Champion Road.
Niki Terpstra in his Dutch National Champion jersey. Photo from OPQS team website
World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin remained on the team for 2013. [Read more about the World Champion Jerseys]
Tony Martin
Photo from OPQS team website
New to the team for 2013 is former World Champion sprinting marvel Mark Cavendish.
Mark Cavendish and his new standard Omega Pharma Quickstep jersey with World Champion armbands and his twitter name printed on the sides. Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Other National Road and Time Trial Champions on the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team include:
Czech Cyclocross Zdeněk Štybar
Belgian Road Race Tom Boonen
Netherlands Road Race Niki Terpstra
Polish Road Race Michał Gołaś
French Time Trial Sylvain Chavanel
German Time Trial Tony Martin
Slovakian Time Trial Peter Velits
World Time Trial Championships Tony Martin
2012 Race Results
The Omega Pharma-Quickstep team comes close to a national team in Belgium. Formed in 2003, last year the team took home win after win, see the team's results list at OPQS wins 2012. They will be announcing their race schedule tomorrow during the presentation. You may check back on the team as they post their races and results for 2013 on their website.
Omega Pharma-Quickstep was also the team that won the 2012 World Team Time Trial Championship. The winning team was made up of 6 riders: Tony Martin, Sylvain Chavanel, Kristof Vandewalle, Peter Velits, Tom
Boonen, and Niki Terpstra. But because the honor was awarded to the team, the 6 riders received only a medal (no jersey), and instead the entire team will wear a
small UCI rainbow logo on their team jersey for all races (road and TT)
in 2012-2013.
Do you see the small UCI emblem on the left upper chest of Peter Velits' 2013 jersey?
Team Omega Pharma Quickstep rides one of the most winning frames in the Peloton
The
team's new Specialized bikes for 2013 will be on display tomorrow at the team presentation, including Mark
Cavendish's new S-Works + McLaren Venge. And yes, I do believe part of Cavendish's
motivation for transferring from Team SKY to Omega Pharma-Qiuckstep was to get
back on a Specialized Venge. A sprinter belongs on that bike. (The two other ProTeams that ride Specialized bikes are Astana and Saxo Bank-Tinkoff)
Omega Pharma Quickstep team bikes for 2013 will again be Specialized.
Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Mark Cavendish's S-Works Venge Omega Pharma Quickstep.
Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Mark Cavendish's Specialized S-Works Venge
Photo from BikeRadar.com, please see their full gallery
Omega Pharma Team Equipment for 2013
Using the same frame models but with Zipp wheels and SRAM componentry, the team will choose between a choice of Specialized bike frames: McLaren Venge, S-Works Venge, S-Works Tarmac SL4, S-Works Roubaix SL4, and Shiv TT. The set up of Mark Canvendish's bike will be:
Bike Frame: Specialized - S-Works + McLaren Venge (S-Works Venge)
Groupo: SRAM Red (non-electronic) with Quarq cranks
Wheels: Zipp
Pedals: Leo KeO
Saddle: Specialized (with personal exceptions)
Tires: Specialized
Bottle Cages: Tacx Tao
Q = How to quickly tell if a rider is on a S-Works Venge or a S-Works Tarmac SL4 bike frame, both road bikes?
A = On the Venge, the seat tube is curved slightly at the point of the rear wheel, similar to the Shiv TT bike, for improved aerodynamics. You can also see by the photos below that the geometry is different, for increased stiffness.
Mark Cavendish is standing by his Venge bike, the other bike is a Tarmac SL4 (click to enlarge).
Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Specialized Bike Models
Specialized Shiv TT time trial bike for team Omega Pharma Quickstep
Specialized S-Works SL4 Omega Pharma Quickstep
Specialized S-Works Venge Omega Pharma Quickstep
Tom Boonen's Specialized SL4 Roubaix, used at the 2012 Paris-Roubaix.
Photo © by James Huang at Bike Radar
Specialized Langster PRO Track Bike 2013
Team Sponsorship and Management
The team is based in Belgium, Patrick Lefevere is the team CEO, Rolf Aldag has returned to road racing again and is the team's Sports and Development Manager, other staff members may be seen at this link. Major Sponsors are Omega Pharma a Belgian Pharmaceutical company, and
QuickStep a manufacturer of laminate flooring. The team will drive Peugeot team cars. Other Sponsors include Janom, Innergetic, and Renson.
Sprinting Giants
It will be exciting to see how the sprinting giants Tom Boonen and Mark Cavendish compete together in 2013. Perhaps they will raise the other to new heights and faster speeds. I think the combination of a spring classics specialist (Boonen) and a grand tour sprinter (Cavendish) should work out smoothly enough.
Tom Boonen and Mark Cavendish are both on the same team now.
Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Smiles from the Omega Pharma Quickstep team recently at training camp in Calpe, Spain.
Photo © by TDWSport.com from team website
Fans
You can buy the new team apparel on their website shop. Or download the OPQS team app from the Appstore. Play with the fun photobooth under fanbase (I took an awesome photo of my dog with Tommeke), or upload your own fan photos to their fan site
Omega Pharma-Quickstep cycling team news page
Omega Pharma-Quickstep cycling team Facebook page
Omega Pharma-Quickstep cycling team on Twitter
This is one team I will be watching in 2013, and tomorrow during parts of their team presentation/competition.
p.s., no, Levi Leipheimer has yet to find a new team for 2013. Still serving his sentence for doping, he was let go by OPQS and remains team-less.
Related post by Pedal Dancer: The McLaren Venge (a short history of the partnership in creating the S-Works + McLaren Venge)
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