Team Type 1 Moving to the UCI
Team Type 1, of the American Continental league, has officially applied to the Union Cycliste International as part of a major move by Phil Southerland, founder and chief executive officer of the team, to set up a new base in France and race as a European team in 2011.
"We've submitted our first round of applications, we're on track and we're looking forward to working with the UCI to ensure we are a Pro Continental team next year,” said Southerland to Cyclingnews. "Our team is all about our mission, spreading the message of diabetes. The only way we're going to spread that on a worldwide basis is by doing races like the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, and that's our focus."
Southerland founded the team in 2006 with fellow Type 1 diabetic Joe Eldridge. The team’s first race was the Race Across America, for which they mounted an eight-man squad made up entirely of riders who suffered from Type 1 diabetes. To this day, it is the only professional cycling team in the world which includes Type 1 diabetics, and Southerland and Eldridge have taken on the goal of mounting first Type 1 diabetic competitors in the Giro d’Italia in 2011.
"We told our riders at the beginning of the year that our focus would be international expansion and getting ourselves aligned to the Giro and to do a lot of the ASO races next year," said Southerland. "We chose to invest our money doing the Tour of Morocco, Tour de Beauce, Vuelta Mexico Telmex, racing in China and the Tour of California, doing the races that would give us the opportunity to make that next step to Pro Continental and the Giro d'Italia.”
Southerland was confronted with rumours spreading among the cycling community that Type 1 riders were paying their own way to races, and the team was falling into financial trouble because of it. Southerland confirmed that team members had paid for their own entry into various American criteriums, but explained that this was because the team couldn’t afford to participate, rather than the vice versa. The chief has express his full commitment to the growth of Team Type 1 and its long-term international success.
"Boise [Twilight Criterium] was not a team race, Cascade was not a team race, so if riders wanted to go they were free to go, but they had to pay. However, Qinghai Lake was a team race and all expenses were paid for that race. Tour de Rio is a team race and all expenses were paid for that. We'll be at the Tour of Utah and we'll be at the national championships, both the criterium and road race. Our riders are getting their salaries, and we are absolutely secure for salaries through the end of the year."
The rumours grew in social networking groups and cycling news websites and Southerland was willing to suggest the possibility that somebody within the team had encouraged the rumour. A rider can get frustrated if they miss out on their favourite races because their team is not participating. It is just another source of stress in the year-by-year career fortunes of a rider.
"Some people can only see steps one and two in a ten-step process and there's a lot of very short-sighted people out there, but when it comes down to it I'm still getting emails on a daily basis from kids around the world saying, 'I have diabetes, your team has inspired me and I want to be a part of it'.”
Team Type 1 has a good relationship with its sponsors and it looks like they will be spreading their message globally in 2011.
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