Team Type 1 sets goal of Giro for 2011

Ben King has moved from the Trek-Livestrong team and signed with Team Type 1.  He is one of six new riders that have joined the ranks of Team Type 1 for the 2011 season.  There has been a long-stated goal of Team Type 1 to be in the Tour de France in 2012, and it would seem they are heading in that direction.  As a step towards that goal they’re targeting the Giro d’Italia in  2011.

Many of their recent signings were designed to not only bolster the strength of the team, but help position themselves to gain Continential Pro status for the 2011 season, and thus eligibility for the Giro d’Italia.

Previously announced was the signing of Rubens Bertogliati, and also joining Ben and Rubens as new team mates are Alessandro Bazzana, Alexander Efimkin and Kiel Reijnen.  In addition, two riders are moving up from the Team Type 1 development squad to join the pro team: Alex bowden and Olaf Kerkhof.

Team Type 1 founder Phil Southerland has hinted at the possible composition of the targeted Giro team, and hopes to have an athlete with type 1 diabetes in the leadership position.  That athlete is Javier Megias, a returning member of the 2010 team.  Says Southerland regarding Javier:

Right now our goal is to put Javier Megias on a squad that will hopefully be invited to the Giro. He’s arguably the best T1 [type 1 diabetic] athlete in the world, and he took a big chance in coming to America to join our team last season. We’re excited to get back to Europe with him and a whole bunch of great new riders on the roster.

Team Type 1 has repeatedly shown their ability to compete at the highest levels.  In fact, in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California they had Valeriy Kobzarenko place 14th in the general classification, 4:59 behind winner Michael Rogers, and had not one but two riders place in the top 3 in the King of the Mountains competition.  Thomas Rabou of Team Type 1 absolutely dominated the KoM competition with 77 points – a full 50 points ahead of second place finisher George Hincapie (27 points.)  Fellow Team Type 1 team mate David Frattini rounded out the third place position with 20 points.