After its conception last year, Canadian-based team Spidertech powered by Planet Energry set some lofty goals, openly discussing its plans to become the first Canadian team in the Tour de France and put a Canadian on the final podium for the first time in the race’s history.
The team has been quietly building momentum, and come into the Tour of California ready to prove to the world that Canadians can race bikes too.
This season, Canadian sprinter Martin Gilbert is the team’s best hope at a stage win at the Tour of California. Gilbert shined at last year’s Tour of Missouri, taking the final stage win by outsprinting some of the peloton’s top talent, putting Spidertech on the map with one of their first big wins.
Supporting Gilbert will be a relatively young Canadian squad, with the team’s average age at just 24-years-old. Canadians Keven Lacombe, Francois Parisien, and David Boily are some of the standout young talent that Spidertech is looking to develop into ProTour material.
Also keep an eye on the sole American on the Spidertech roster, Lucas Euser, who is returning from a brutal training crash in Spain last year to race in his home state at the Tour of California. After racing for Garmin since 2006, Euser joined Spidertech this year as he tries to find his pre-crash form. While we don’t expect Euser to do anything drastic, the Tour of California will be a good chance for him to test himself against some of the best in the world, which could mean we see him on the front from time to time.
Spidertech will be one of the teams at this years tour who have a chance to shock the cycling world if they can get a good result somewhere. It may take everything they have, but a win is always possible, and would be a huge boost to the Canadian team.
Spidertech powered by Planet Energy Tour of California roster:
David Boily (CAN)
Guillaume Boivin (CAN)
Lucas Euser (USA)
Martin Gilbert (CAN)
Kevin Lacombe (CAN)
Bruno Langlois (CAN)
Francois Parisien (CAN)
Andrew Randell (CAN)
