Canyon Bicycles Continues Young Heroes Program
German manufacturer of high-end bikes supports young racing cyclists. Eric Zabel mentors young guns. Applications extended to December 15.

Following in the footsteps of the pros with Canyon
Successful youth development now entering its third season Erik Zabel acting as a mentor to the dedicated young talents Closing date for applications extended to 15 December

The international youth support programme offered by Canyon Bicycles GmbH will continue for a further season in 2010. The Koblenz-based bike manufacturer, and above all ex-pro Erik Zabel will once again be supporting the so-called Young Heroes.

Canyon supports young talent because the company has its very roots in cycle racing. This is why the Koblenz-based company supports cycle racing at grass roots level and an important pillar of this support is youth development in the shape of the Young Heroes. This intensive work with young talent really does pay dividends and the Canyon Young Heroes group currently consists of 23 boys and girls from all over Europe: 15 in the over-15 category and 8 riders in the over-17 category.

All the riders from the first intake of talents were able to impress with outstanding performances and are therefore still included in the Young Heroes squad. However, what is the arrangement with the local clubs, which the young talents are already riding for? Event and Team Manager Dominic Piquardt explains, „The selected riders receive one of our prize-winning Ultimate CF frames with a special Young Heroes design and a range of equipment which the pros also use. The riders however, continue to race for their respective clubs.” This allows the Young Heroes to continue to race in familiar surroundings and at the same time enjoy the benefits of racing with real pro equipment.

VIP supervision from Erik Zabel
All the Young Heroes over-15 riders are annually invited to a meeting at the start of the racing season. The equipment is then handed out by the initiators and the riders train together for thefirst time. In 2009 the event took place on the same weekend as the Tour of Flanders in Bruges, the city where the Belgian classic begins.

During the training session the riders are accompanied by Erik Zabel, who is one of the leading celebrities in world cycling. Youth development work is one of Zabel’s roles in his work for Canyon, and as he himself says, by far the most rewarding. “It’s really great when you see the sparkle in the kids’ eyes as they receive their new equipment. The work is extremely fun when you see how enthusiastic the boys and girls are.”

Erik was also present at the first international team appearance of the Young Heroes - the Youngclassics in Hamburg, which takes place during the UCI-Pro-Tour event Vattenfall Cyclassics. The six boys were very successful thanks to support of Erik Zabel and the physiotherapist Diether Ruthenberg, known affectionately as “Owl”. A rider from the “Canyon Young Heroes” team took a place on the podium on every stage of the race and at the end of the event the team had both the German Jan Brockhoff and Frenchman Florian Senechal on the winners’ podium for Canyon.

Closing date for applications extended until mid-December
Canyon has extended the closing date for applications to join the Young Heroes 2010 until 15 December. Interested young cyclists can download the relevant application forms on the internet page www.canyon.com/young_heroes Further information is also available via e-mail at youngheroes@canyon.com. 
http://www.canyon.com/_en/heroes/

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