Navigators in Tuscany
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Feb. 13, 2003
Part 1: Raising the Ante
Training camp in Tuscany… there are worse fates.
Members of the Navigators team trickled in from airports all over northern Italy last week. They found their way over golden hillsides, through vineyards and olive trees, to a tiny town called Castagneto Carducci, which – depending on what map you use – may or may not exist.
They’re packed into the only hotel in a five-kilometer radius, six-foot-long bodies draped over micro-thin “twin” beds. Hotel Zi’Martino houses a multitude of professional and amateur European cycling teams for winter and early spring training camps. In fact, the Navigators are sharing the restaurant every night with an Italian espoir team right now.
Yet, despite the beauty of the area, the seemingly endless riding roads, and a quality sponsorship from Colnago (based out of Milan), you still might be questioning just why an American Division II team from New Jersey, with an American primary sponsor, might be holding its training camp in Tuscany. Other American teams go to Santa Barbara. Aren’t those roads also nice for riding?
If you ask Ed Beamon, the Navigators’ director sportif, why Italy or even why Europe, he’ll give you an answer that at first sounds counter-intuitive: to promote American cycling, of course. Engage him further in discussion and it all starts to make sense.
The Navigators insurance company has been backing cycling for thirteen years, with ten years at the professional level. And every year, the team has stepped up a level or two and, along with it, raised its expectations. This year that step included jumping the pond to tackle a heavy mix of early season European racing – and if the boys are going to race in Europe, they’re also going to need to train in Europe.
As cyclists, most of us know that Americans just don’t share the same love for cycling as Europeans. In Italy, France, and Belgium, fans go wild for bike racing. There’s an energy in Europe surrounding the sport that sometimes gets lost in the repetitive weekends of office-park criteriums in the states.
Add to that the thrill of racing in front of wild crowds and the sheer speed of the European peloton, and you have ample reason to spend a good month of early season racing overseas.
“Step up your program and let these guys get a taste of racing over here,” Beamon says, “and then when you return to the states, you raise the ante for the other American teams as well as the level of passion for the sport.”
It makes sense.
“We want to fuel our guys with the history and love of cycling that you can only find over here, and then we want to bring that back with us to the remainder of our schedule in the U.S.” he adds.
Beamon and Ray Cipollini have been running the Navigators team together for a decade. They work well together; even complement each other. As a Div. II team, there’s no restriction on the average age of their riders and no stipulation on how many under-25 riders they need, yet Cipollini and Beamon have built the core of their team around an average age of well under 30.
Of the fifteen riders, as well, there are nine Americans and two foreigners that call the U.S. home, most of which have extensive experience already on the European circuit. It seems counter-intuitive, perhaps, but taking these guys to Europe and providing them with the opportunity to bring their experience back to the states is one definite way to further American cycling.
Add to that the fact that they’re gearing up for their first race in northern Italy in a week’s time. What these guys call an “easy day” involves 160k of hammering up and down undulating Tuscan terrain while trying to lose Cipollini in the follow car… even on the ascents.
Consider the ante for the domestic circuit to have just been raised.
FILED UNDER: Uncategorized