Rock Racing Announces 2009 Roster, Directors

Besides having the coolest jerseys, now Rock Racing has added some serious experience added to their roster and management.

Rock Racing Owner Michael Ball announced the re-signing of U.S. National Champions Tyler Hamilton (Road), Rahsaan Bahati (Criterium) and Justin Williams (Under 23 Criterium) as well as stalwarts Oscar Sevilla, Fred Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Peña.

It further bolstered its ranks for 2009 by signing European specialists Baden Cooke, Francisco Mancebo and José Enrique Gutiérrez, as well as top domestic talents Ivan Dominquez, Glen Chadwick, Chris Baldwin and Caleb Manion. 

To top it off, they’ve hired Director Sportif Rudy Pevanage and Assistant Director Laurenzo LaPage.  Pevanage has previous management experience with T-Mobile and Coast/Bianchi, leading Jan Ulrich to a Tour de France victory in 1997.  LaPage was on staff with Discovery Channel team for two of Lance Armstrong’s wins (’03 and ’04).

“Without a doubt, we have two of the most experienced director sportifs that cycling has produced in the last 20 years,” Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said. “Rudy built a dynasty with the powerful Telekom and T-Mobile teams, while Laurenzo comes to us from Astana, a team that has won three of the past five Grand Tours.”

Perhaps more interesting is their anti-doping programs…que huh?  Read “mas“…

Ball was quoted in this article as saying “we are also investing a lot of time, energy and money in 2009 on increased anti-doping measures through Scott Analytics.”

Mention Rock Racing on a ride and instantly there are jokes about drug use…but apparently, Rock Racing is the only U.S.-based professional team that has had an internal anti-doping program in place – uninterrupted – since April.  Who knew?

Get the full press release and rider list with bio’s here.