LINDA MCCARTNEY RACING TEAM

The 'Linda McCartney Racing Team' was a British professional road bicycle racing team.

Contents

History

Notable Riders

References

History

The team was conceived in 1998 with the basic marketing concept of having the Linda McCartney food range of vegetarian foods (a British food range launched by ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney's late wife, Linda) provide sponsorship to a unique cycle team made up of vegetarian riders and support staff. As a result, it was hoped that the team's success in high profile races such as the Tour de France would reflect the nutritional and health benefits of the vegetarian lifestyle and ''Linda McCartney Foods''.^[1]
The team was formed to compete on the British cycle racing circuit first before expanding to the higher-profile international events. Aligned with this strategy, the team was initially made up of British riders with the more internationally-experienced riders joining later to improve the squad's credentials for entering the UCI UCI Road World Cup and the European Grand Tours.
Despite being the first British team to enter the Giro d'Italia, as the team and its commitments grew, the corresponding increase in costs and the lack of adequate sponsorship (including an absence of funding from Linda McCartney Foods itself) put financial pressures on the outfit causing it to disband in 2001 facing reported debts of over US$1m and embroiled in a dispute with the UCI over riders' wages.^[2][3]

Notable Riders

★ Tom Barras

★ Taveb Braikia

★ Ben Brooks

★ Íñigo Cuesta

★ Maurizio de Pasquale

★ Matthew DeCanio

★ Scott Guyton

★ Brian Kenneally

★ Alan Lacoune

★ David McKenzie (a stage winner in the 2000 Tour Down Under)

★ Ciarán Power

★ Huw Pritchard

★ Mirko Puglioli

★ Pascal Richard

★ Mark Scanlon

★ Max Sciandri

★ Spencer Smith

★ Matt Stephens

★ John Tanner

★ Bjørnar Vestøl

★ Julian Winn

★ Bradley Wiggins

★ Charly Wegelius

★ Sean Yates

References

1. The Independent 26 January 2001
2. CBC Sports 6 March 2001
3. BBC Sports 25 January 2001