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Frischiknecht Starts New Racing Team Swisspower is beginning - and end - of an era Wednesday, February 13, 2002
We received a letter from racing legend Thomas Frischknecht this week, describing the big changes that are taking place for the upcoming 02 racing season.
He said: "After 12 years the era of Frischi and Team Ritchey came to an end. Team Ritchey, one of the most victorious teams in the history of mountain bike racing will not exist anymore. Sure this is sad. But for me it also contains a great opportunity to start my own team with Swisspower." According to Frischi, this does not at all mean that he will separate from Ritchey. "I'm more than ever involved in Tom's company and his product development. Ritchey also is sponsor of the new Swisspower Team, just like CREDIT SUISSE (financial sevices), SCOTT (bikes), Lexmark (printers) and ODLO (clothing). SWATCH and OAKLEY remain my personal sponsors. The bike looks just like last years:" SCOTT frame, RITCHEY components, ROCK SHOX suspension and SRAM drivetrain. The new title sponsor is SWISSPOWER. Swisspower is a leading energy-power company in Switzerland and is also title sponsor of the Swisspower Mountainbike Cup which contains six E2 races. "The idea behind the team is to develop young swiss superstars," said Frischi. "The best talents will get the chance to train and race on my side over the next three years and hopefully learn from my racing experience. They are coached by Andi Seeli, a long time national coach, who also will be the team director. I've been working with Andi Seeli since I started racing in 1985. He is a big part of my success over the past decade. Just like in the past I can count on Res Aeschlimann as our team manager. With this powerful infrastructure we hope to develop riders that some time will be on the top of the podium. Besides being the number one team in Switzerland, we try to become a strong world cup team too."
Teammembers are:
Staff: — Posted by Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Staff |