Team Wonderful Pistachios will have approximately 100 days of cycling in 2012
Josh Horowitz is the Team Manager for the US based continental team, Wonderful Pistachios. He revealed the news of an increased budget for the team in 2012. The increase in budget will result in an extended race calendar for the side.
The California based team was founded in 2009 as an amateur team and was initially known as Liquid Fitness. The side made its continental debut in 2010, with the name Adageo Energy Pro Cycling.
The team’s main sponsor, Adageo Energy, backed out in 2011 because of financial constraints. However, the management was able to find a brand new sponsor, Wonderful Pistachio, in the same year and will now continue with it in 2012 as well.
Paramount farms are the main financer behind wonderful pistachios and are one of the largest growers of almonds and pistachios in the world.
Josh stated that the increases in budget will double the number of cycling days for the team. He was quoted as saying, "We will focus on USA Cycling's National Criterium Calendar and other one-day races in the USA, since the main goal of our sponsor is to
introduce the public to its product”.
He also briefed, “There are larger audiences at the bigger criteriums and one-day races like [the] Philadelphia [International Classic] and [Tour of the] Battenkill, which allows us to give out more samples".
Almost 90% of the team comprises of U.S based riders, there are ten American and one Japanese cyclist in the squad.
Eric Bennett, Kirk Carlsen, Yosvany Falcon, Taylor Bertrand Barrett, Sterline Magnell, Collin Samaan, Victor Riquelme, Iggy Silva, Brett Tack and Erik Slack are all American whereas Yusuke Higuma is the only Japanese rider in the squad.
Wonderful Pistachios could not perform to its full capacity because its racing calendar was limited due to a small budget.
Nonetheless, the team will now also be seen at the UCI Americas Tour in South and Central America, hopefully taking a start from Vuelta Mexico in March.
The American side aims to gain its Professional Continental status in the near future. It is targeting the USA Procycling Challenge in Colorado, Tour of Utah and Amgen Tour of California in the near future.
It will be interesting to see if the team will live up to the expectations of its sponsor and take its performance to the next level in 2012.
Tags: