Fly VAustralia Unveils 2010 Roster
Pan Pacific Australian team returns with 5 new riders to support stage and one day racing goals - Strong men Jai Crawford, Darren Lill Join Chris White's squad.

Fly V Australia’s roster for 2010 is loaded top to bottom with talent that stands ready to tackle an international racing schedule. With Sponsor Virgin Australia renewing their commit through 2012 the team looks to continue its progress toward a moving up the ranks to ProTour status. (Sponsor announcement below.)

Among the 15 riders on the UCI continental squad are 10 Australians, two South Africans and one rider each from Canada, Italy and the United States. Team Owner Chris White said the team was built to accommodate a deep racing program that will see Fly V Australia competing firstly in Australia and then the United States for much of the year.

White added, “On our way to the US in February we will be competing in India and Singapore and later in the year we hope to be granted starts in the Tours of Ireland and Britain.”

“Our vision is to be part of the ProTour and we have made significant steps towards our objective. Australia is the third ranked Nation in cycling and does not have a ProTour team, this needs to be addressed and over the next two years we intend to build to this level. In Europe cycling is a historical sport and 7-Eleven was North America’s cycling frontier back in the 70’s, it’s time for an Australian ProTour team.” White said.

Building on a successful 2009, 10 of the 15 riders in the 2010 roster are returning, including general classification contenders Phil Zajicek, Ben Day and Bernie Sulzberger and all rounder Jonathan Cantwell, one day hitter Charles Dionne and criterium specialist Ben Kersten.

In a performance that defined the Team’s 2009 program Phil Zajicek scored a gutsy stage win ahead of Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer at the SRAM Tour of the Gila in the United States in April. Benjamin Day is a past silver medalist at the Commonwealth Games who won the California season opening stage race: San Dimas  in March. Sulzberger is the defending Australian criterium champion who showed his versatility when he captured the overall at this year’s Tour of Tasmania.

Jonathan Cantwell, a prolific winner in 2009 was also third overall at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour behind Bradley Wiggins thus showing that he is capable of more than just fast finishes.

Ben Kersten is a past junior world champion on the track and Commonwealth Games gold medalist who won the 2009 USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championship.

Charles Dionne earned more than 20 victories in 2009, including stage wins at the Tour de Beauce', the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic and the Tour du Quebec.

Also returning are Alessandro Bazzana (super domestique), Darren Rolfe (winner of Tour of Geelong) and Hayden Brooks and David Kemp (both stage winners at the Tour of Murray River).

New additions include a pair of proven South African talents, Darren Lill (from Team Type 1) and Jay Thomson (from MTN Cycling). Lill is a past Continental road champion (2006) who won the difficult Mount Nebo climbing stage on the way to second overall at the 2009 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

Thomson is the reigning South African time trial champion who represented his country at the world road race championships in Mendrisio.

Also new to the team are Australians David Jai Crawford (runner up at this year’s Tour de Langkawi), Aaron Kemps (multi-stage winner at the 2007 Sun Tour) and David Tanner (winner of multiple stages of the Tour of Murray and a top 10 finisher at this year’s Sun Tour).

Crawford arrives from the Australian Savings & Loans Team while Kemps and Tanner competed for U.S.-based Rock Racing in 2009.

“Coming off a great 2009 we looked closely at where we believed that we needed to strengthen our roster. With Kersten, Cantwell and Sulzberger we felt that we had some excellent speed but as a Team we probably lacked a little punch when the road steepened. We expect Lill and Crawford to fill these gaps nicely and to offer excellent support to Phil and Ben. Both of these riders excelled in the ultra steep terrain of 2009 achieving brilliant results against top quality climbers at Utah and Malaysia respectively.

We have also added top-flight rouleurs in Kemps, Tanner and Thomson. The result we believe is an exceptionally well balanced and powerful roster.” White said.

“Our primary objectives for the season is to improve on the success of 2009 by becoming the leading professional team in North America and Australia and to build a platform for elevation to Professional Continental status in 2011,” White added.

The Fly V australia roster for 2010
Alessandro Bazzana (Italy)
Hayden Brooks
 Jonathon Cantwell
Jai Crawford
Benjamin Day
Charles Dionne (Canada)
Aaron Kemps
David Kemp
Benjamin Kersten
Darren Lill (RSA)
Darren Rolfe
Bernard Sulzberger
David Tanner
Jay Thomson (RSA)
Philip Zajicek (USA)
(Australian unless otherwise noted)

www.pegasusracing.com.au

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Team Fly VAustralia
Virgin Australia Renews Title Sponsorship Through 2011
Brisbane, Australia - Renewed sponsor support promises to make Fly V Australia’s upcoming season even more impressive than the long list of accomplishments it compiled in 2009. Team Owner Chris White announced that the team’s primary sponsor, V australia, has extended its agreement with the team’s management company, Pegasus Racing Pty Ltd, through 2011. White said, “We commenced working with Virgin Blue in 2008 and to have their backing for a further two years creates a four year partnership, we look forward to ensuring that the team has strong foundations from which to deliver on its primary objectives.”

V australia is the international airline of Virgin Blue, and was launched in February 2009 by Virgin Group Chairman and Virgin Blue major shareholder Sir Richard Branson. The airline operates nonstop, round-trip flights originating in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Los Angeles. Other destinations that have come on-line recently include Fiji, Thailand and South Africa.

White said the team goal for 2010 is to improve on the success of 2009 by becoming the leading professional team in North America and Australia and to build a platform for elevation to Professional Continental status in 2011.

“You're only limited by the objectives you set yourself, so you keep ratcheting your goals up to make things happen,” White said. “The foundation of Virgin Blue’s support is key to our long-term success and vision for what we believe this team can accomplish over the next couple of years.”

What Fly V Australia accomplished in 2009 was nothing short of remarkable for a first-year continental team. The squad of nine Australians, three Americans and a Canadian and an Italian won 94 races, including its first and last events in both Australia and the United States.

“Bernie Sulzberger got our success rolling with a win at the Australian Criterium champions title and Ben Kersten (2009 USA Cycling national criterium winner) capped things off at the Cronulla International Grand Prix,” White said. “In between in the U.S., we won our first race (Boulevard Road Race) with Ben Day in the snow and our last one with Bernie on Stage 5 at the Tour of Utah.”

White said an announcement on its 2010 roster is forthcoming, as is the squad’s race calendar, which will include a full slate of events in both Australia and the United States. In 2009, Fly VAustralia scored more than 40 wins in North America and victories in all but one of the tours in the Australia National Road Series.