| Phonak | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCI code | PHO | |||||||||||||
| Based |  Switzerland |
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| Founded | 2002 | |||||||||||||
| Disbanded | 2006 | |||||||||||||
| Discipline(s) | Road | |||||||||||||
| Status | ProTour | |||||||||||||
| Key personnel | ||||||||||||||
| General manager | Andy Rihs | |||||||||||||
| Team name history | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2006 | Phonak | |||||||||||||
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Phonak (UCI Team Code: PHO) was a Swiss professional cycling team active from 2002 until 2006. The Phonak team was one of the 20 teams invited to the first UCI ProTour for the 2005 season, where the team showed consistency. Though only winning one overall race in Santiago Botero's victory in the one-week race Tour de Romandie, the team finished second in the team ranking on the 2005 ProTour circuit.
16 June 2006, it was announced that presenting sponsor iShares (a subsidiary of Barclays Global Investors N.A.) had signed a three-year contract to become the team's title sponsor beginning in 2007. Thus, the team's name was to become iShares. However, 15 August 2006, Andy Rihs, owner of Phonak Hearing Systems, stated that the deal had been called off after team leader Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone, and that the team will be disbanded at the end of the 2006 season.[1]
During the 2004 season it centered on giving Tyler Hamilton the best possible support for winning the 2004 Tour de France. When he crashed and then withdrew from that race, and later was suspended for blood doping, the support riders got a chance to prove their worth in other races. Unfortunately, Tyler Hamilton was not the last rider to be removed for doping, causing the main sponsor Phonak to be disinclined to continue its sponsorship beyond the 2006 season.
The riders accused of the 2004 doping are Tyler Hamilton (appeal dismissed, now banned from competition until September 22, 2006), Santiago Pérez (positive, two-year ban [1]), Oscar Camenzind (positive, ended his career), Fabrizio Guidi (acquitted, active on Phonak) and Sascha Urweider (fired by the team after he tested positive [2] and now awaiting trial).
5 August 2006, the Phonak team dismissed 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis after confirmation that a urine sample taken immediately after his Stage 17 win twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.[2] After a review of Landis' appeal, his Tour de France title was stripped by the UCI on September 20, 2007.[3]
Contents |
Team Rankings
Phonak Hearing Systems won the team classification at the following events:
- 2006 Giro d'Italia – Trofeo Fast Team and Trofeo Super Team (points)
- 2006 Volta a Catalunya
- 2006 Tour of Qatar
- Paris-Nice 2006
- 2006 Tour de Georgia
Roster for the 2006 Season
| Name | Date of birth | Nationality | Team 2005 | Major Placings as a Phonak cyclist |
| Santiago Botero | 27-10-1972 |  Colombia |
2nd, Stage 11 - 2005 Tour de France | |
| Aurelien Clerc | 26-08-1979 | Switzerland |
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| Martin Elmiger | 23-09-1978 | Switzerland |
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| Luis Fernandez Oliveira |  Spain |
neo-pro | ||
| Bert Grabsch | 19-06-1975 |  Germany |
||
| Fabrizio Guidi | 13-04-1972 |  Italy |
4th overall: 2005 Tirreno-Adriatico | |
| Ignacio Gutierrez Cataluna | 01-12-1977 | Spain |
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| José Enrique Gutiérrez | 18-06-1974 | Spain |
2nd overall: 2006 Giro d'Italia | |
| Ryder Hesjedal | 09-12-1980 |  Canada |
Discovery Channel | 4th overall: 2006 Volta a Catalunya |
| Robert Hunter | 22-04-1977 |  South Africa |
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| Nicolas Jalabert | 13-04-1973 |  France |
||
| Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero | 14-10-1972 | Spain |
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| Jonathan Patrick McCarty | 01-02-1983 |  United States |
Discovery Channel | |
| Axel Merckx | 08-08-1972 |  Belgium |
||
| Koos Moerenhout | 05-11-1973 |  Netherlands |
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| Alexandre Moos | 22-12-1972 | Switzerland |
3rd, Stage 2 and 2nd, Stage 4: 2006 Tour de Romandie | |
| Steve Morabito | 30-01-1983 | Switzerland |
neo-pro | |
| Uroš Murn | 09-02-1975 |  Slovenia |
9th: 2005 Paris-Tours | |
| Tomasz Nose | 21-04-1982 | Slovenia |
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| Víctor Hugo Peña | 10-07-1974 | Colombia |
9th overall: 2006 Giro d'Italia | |
| Viktor Rapinski | 17-06-1981 |  Belarus |
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| Grégory Rast | 17-01-1980 | Switzerland |
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| Daniel Schnider | 20-11-1973 | Switzerland |
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| Florian Stalder | 13-09-1982 | Switzerland |
Ed'System - ZVVZ | |
| Johann Tschopp | 01-07-1982 | Switzerland |
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| Sascha Urweider | 18-09-1980 | Switzerland |
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| David Vitoria | 15-10-1984 | Switzerland |
neo-pro | |
| Steve Zampieri | 04-06-1977 | Switzerland |
References
- ^ "Owner set to disband Landis' team". BBC Sport. 2006-08-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/4793965.stm.
- ^ "Backup Sample on Landis Is Positive". New York Times. 2006-08-05. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/sports/05cnd-landis.ready.html.
- ^ "Landis stripped of Tour title; appeal uncertain". Velonews. 2007-09-20. http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13354.0.html.
External links
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