Team Rock Racing will ride Kestrel RT900 frames for the 2009 season, the bicycle company announced Tuesday.
“We have built great relationships with many of Rock Racing’s riders through our other brands’ sponsorships, and I’m happy they will get the opportunity to race on our bikes in 2009,” said Karen Bliss, marketing director at Advanced Sports, Inc., Kestrel’s parent company.
Advanced Sports also owns the Fuji, Breezer and SE Racing bicycle brands. Rock Racing used Fuji bikes for part of the 2008 season.
The team will ride Kestrel’s new RT900, a 950 gram carbon frameset that features a unique aero-shaped monocoque frame design and its EMS Pro fork. The team will also be supported by Shimano with Dura-Ace components.
In a statement, Kestrel said it would use the team’s experience to help develop a new time trial frame scheduled to be released this summer.
Rock Racing will make its racing debut at the Tour of California, February 14. The TOC team roster includes: Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col), Enrique Gutierrez (Spa), Francisco Mancebo (Spa), Freddy Rodriguez (USA), Tyler Hamilton (USA), David Vitoria (Swi), Oscar Sevilla (Spa), Aaron Kemps (Aus).
So, is this a step up for Kestrel or a step down for Rock Racing?
Depends. Several were rebadging their De Rosa’s and Fujis’ anyways…
It’s rather confusing to me from a marketing standpoint. Kestrel has little to no road race exposure, although I have a few friends who rave about their Evoke SLs. Fuji has a fairly solid road following. Kestel’s flagship aero TT bike can’t be showcased…so you figure that’s money tossed down the garbage. ??? And Fuji’s new TT steed is going to be hitting the market??? Perhaps Advanced Sports is comfortable with Fuji’s positioning and want to focus on the Kestrel brand…yet why rob Peter to pay Paul? My guess is that they feel the RT900sl will be able to break through and Fuji is fine with other teams/endorsements.
B/c it’s not a double diamond design and can’t be used (I’m referring to the $ spent on new Airfoil Pro SL). Thus, they will either need to use the Talon or the “new” TT bike referred to in the release.
A deal with Scott fell through early last year. Then they got a limited deal with De Rosa. From there, Tyler Hamilton got a one-off with Fuji, which led to what appeared to be a forthcoming Fuji sponsorship: they had Fuji time trial bikes at Missouri. Later, Fred Rodriguez was photographed riding a Van Dessel, which implied something was in the works there. But as was noted, it appears Fuji channeled them to its sister company Kestrel, to promote that brand. It seems a good move. I don’t think one can claim a quality difference between any of these frames. Kestrel has an enormous history and dedicated customers, so it’s hard to see how there’s any compromise on Rock’s side. But it will be interesting to see what they ride in Solvang. It’s interesting to me, though, they went with the RT800-900 instead of the Talon. Stiffness and confort, I suspect. There seems to be resistance against the trend to aero road frames. For example, Carlos Sastre wouldn’t ride the Cervelo SLC, but was able to accept the S3 which was designed with a more compliant rear triangle. And Garmin didn’t even use the Felt AR when they were targeting the Tour of Qatar TTT, which they won on the F1 instead.