Boy, it seems as if the season just started yesterday, but yet here we are and it’s already the end of September and the season is over and what a season it was. For those of you that are like me and like to track statistics and keep score, Toyota-United had its best season ever with 71 wins and 154 podiums to date. I think most will agree that in this modern era of America cycling, this is pretty spectacular and arguably the best season any domestic team has ever had when you consider the fact that there are so many big tours in America now with strong European teams present and a depth of competition that did not previously exist week in and week out.
For those of you that aren’t aware, Toyota-United has won more stages in America’s grand tours; Amgen Tour of California, Tour de Georgia and Tour of Missouri with a total of 9 stage wins. In addition, we have worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de Georgia and Tour of Missouri, while winning the Amgen Tour of California and Tour of Missouri Sprinters jerseys and the KOM jersey in the Tour of Missouri. And until this years final team race at the Tour of Missouri, we had won at least one stage in every one of the grand tours for three consecutive seasons. This year our streak was broken by one buzz saw that is Mark Cavendish who beat Ivan Dominguez in Stage 6 at the Tour of Missouri. But, I suppose if you are going to have a streak such as this broken, losing to the guy who won four stages at this years Tour de France and three stages at this years Tour of Missouri, it’s not all that bad. But we really did want to win a stage
In addition, Toyota-United has racked up 167 wins and 363 podiums since the teams inception in 2006. Furthermore, USAC recently awarded the 2007 Team NRC Title to the Toyota-United Team, breaking HealthNet’s strangle hold on that competition as a result of Nathan O’Neill losing 200+ points from the Tour of Elk Grove last year for testing positive for a banned substance, thereby giving Toyota-United the lift it needed to finish the 2007 NRC points race with 4,202 compared to HealthNet’s 4,147.
Representatives from Toyota-United have always worked extremely hard to conduct ourselves in a humble, professional manner at all times to make our families, sponsors and fans proud. Based on the numerous emails I have received over the years and talking with all mentioned in person and on the phone, I think it’s safe to say achieved this goal and I personally am very proud of this fact.
I want to personally thank all 26,107 of you, our fans for your unwavering support these past three seasons. When I set out to start this team, I had a vision of getting cycling fans to rally around this team that would bust their butt’s week in and week out, win or lose and do it with honor and respectability to make the fans proud. I hope you feel as if we were up to the task and your standards. I also wanted to make sure that our race results were achieved in a fair sporting manner and without the use of performance enhancing drugs or any other method of achieving fraudulent sporting results. I can tell you with 100% certainty that I personally do not any knowledge nor do I think any one of our riders have ever used these methods to get ahead while on this team these past three seasons and I’m very proud of this fact as well.
Along the way, Toyota-United has always made a point to give back to others less fortunate than we are and in particular within the communities we raced in. One of the more notable charitable contributions we made was to Dan Sheret the amputee endurance cyclist we sponsored on his Ability Trek which he launched last June in Washington, DC to ride his bike around the world on a United Bicycle by himself to raise awareness and funds for the Barsra project and other individuals who have suffered limb loss as a result of land mine explosions. Here is a recent quote we received from Dan “The good news is that because of your support of my trek last year I just learned that the folks I worked with in the State Department Just granted 1.5 million dollars to the Barsra Project. Although you and I will never get credit for it, rest assured that because of T-U support of me there will be people we never will meet walking and living better lives. Please see this article. ” Additionally, Dan appeared last July on Larry King Live for over seven minutes where Larry King allowed him to wear his Toyota-United kit on the show which he has never allowed anyone to wear a logo of any kind on his show. If you haven’t seen the piece, check out our 2008 team video where it appears midway through the TUP Video
Toyota-United along with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. also contributed money to the Chrysalis Foundation in Los Angeles earlier this year. Chrysalis is a wonderful organization who trains the homeless people of LA to obtain a job and to be able to support themselves. They have a 93% job placement success ratio and have placed over 25,000 homeless people in jobs in three past ten years.
I want to say a special thank you to the folks at Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc and their ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi in Los Angeles. I can honestly say that in all my years in business, I have never worked with such a classy, professional, considerate and supportive group of people. They really took a risk in sponsoring this team that had no track record and was starting a new business model, a new way of approaching the sport in so far as not just being a racing team, but instead giving back to charity, conduct serious marketing initiatives, public relations, advertising, basically a full 360 promotion.
This will be our final newsletter, so please feel free to email me privately at if you need anything as I will be spending my time raising my new baby girl Sarah Frances Tucker and winding down the business, selling team equipment, clothing, etc. unless we find a sponsor in the next few weeks for 2009.
Thanks again, it’s been a great ride
Regards,
Sean P. Tucker
Team Owner
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For those of you in need of high-performance road wear, the team jerseys, bibs, vests and gloves may be just your style. Visit our team store today to check out the merchandise for yourself and to purchase the gear you need to get rolling. Inventory is low and this is the last chance to buy authorized team gear.
September was another month of big wins for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team as one of our many Australians, Henk Vogels, opened the account up early on September 1 by winning a stage and the overall classification of the Gateway Cup in St. Louis, MO. This was an especially impressive series for Henk and he was the lone Toyota-United representative against a very solid regional field of 6-8 man teams.
One week later, Henk was joined by 7 additional Toyota-United teammates for the final U.S. “Grand tour” event of the 2008 season, the Tour of Missouri. The Tour of MO started on the 8th of September in KC, MO and finished 7 days later in St Louis, MO. Along the way the riders faced an endless series of rolling hill through the Ozark mountains. These “rolling” stages were a perfect recipe for field sprints and that ended up being the case at the finish for 5 of the 6 mass-start events. To make things interesting the organizers threw in a very challenging individual time trail on day 3 in Branson, MO and the winner of that stage in 2007 (Levi Leipheimer) called it the hardest time trial he’d ever done….and Levi’s pretty much done them all.
Our team strategy for the weeklong race was a two-pronged attack. Our first objective was to win one or more stages and our best chance for that, we felt was with our proven lead out train and ultra-fast finish man, Ivan Dominguez from Cuba. Secondly we wanted to put either Dominique Rollin or Ben Day on the final overall podium. Dominique had finished an impressive 3rd overall in 2007 and we had hoped that he could match or exceed that in the 2008 edition. Ben Day based on the ability to time trial with the best of them, also had an excellent chance at a high overall place.
Dominique wasted no time showing off his great form on stage one as he took first place on both of the categorized “King of the Mountains” climbs and made it clear that he intended to keep the jersey all the way to St. Louis. Although the KOM jersey had not originally been one of our objective, we quickly made it one and I’m happy to say that through a series of heads-up riding on the team’s part and the sheer power and strength of Dominique, he did make it all the way to St. Louis as the Tour of MO “King of the Mountains” winner.
Stage 6 of the tour had a little bit of everything for the Toyota-United team. We lost Henk Vogels fairly early in the race due to a hard fall which saw a number of riders go down in front of Henk and unfortunately, a couple more riders landed on top of him. Luckily we had our team physician, Dr. Roshon in the car with us and he assessed the situation pretty quickly and deemed Henk unfit to continue. This was one of the harder days of the tour as the pressure was on right from the start and it was obvious that the riders were getting fatigued and beginning to make mistakes. We ended up having to change a bike for Dominique not too long after Henk’s crash as Dominique was also taken down by riders in front of him but luckily he was able to rejoin the race.
Dominique Rollin has had an incredible year with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team with 13 race wins, including impressive stage wins at the Amgen Tour of California and Cascade Cycling Classic.
Dominique
came to the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team after spending 2007 as a
member of the Canadian World Championship Team and is a 6-Time
Canadian National Road Champion. Dominique is an imposing rider at 6”2”
and 180lbs. He has a ton of power and is a great all around rider. “I
get over the hills and have a good sprint. I prefer long field sprints
or from a breakaway. I’m quite aggressive and if I can, I’ll make the
race happen.”
Dominique started racing at the age of 11
and followed his older brothers’ footsteps. He loves to motivate the
Sunday rider and gets pumped up when they share his passion for the
sport.
2007 was a breakout year for Dominique as won seven races and was 3rd
in two stages and 3rd overall at the Tour of Missouri.
Few dimensions of a cyclist’s life are as critical as his or her health
and well-being. The two go hand in hand, inextricably linked and relied
upon in order to achieve maximum results. Toyota has brought
like-minded values to the automotive industry, and their
environmentally-friendly Hybrid Synergy Drive vehicles—Prius, Camry
Hybrid and Highlander Hybrid—are the perfect fit for our team.
Toyota is dedicated to making a difference on this planet and reducing
its environmental impact. Such efforts can have direct bearings on our
future and the future health of our planet, issues we take to heart as
cyclists, and relevant to all endurance athletes.
As a sports team, we are proud to be aligned with a company that shares
our passion for moving forward. One of Toyota's key philosophies is
continuous improvement, using the momentum of change – big or small –
to improve what they can.
Team directors Harm and Kirk will be whipping through race courses
across the country in the Toyota Prius. This sporty hybrid is more than
just a smart buy for the eco-conscious driver, it is a secure ride with
a full array of standard safety features.
Toyota's been doing business in the U.S. for 50 years, and more than 60
percent of the cars they sell in the U.S. are built in North America
including the Camry Hybrid. The company employs more than 32,000
Americans and has a direct U.S. investment of more than $13 billion.
With carmakers being so international these days, we’re proud they’ve
made a lasting investment in our nation’s health and wellness by
sponsoring America’s cycling team.
To learn more about Toyota’s suite of Hybrid Synergy Drive-powered vehicles, click here.
Boy, it seems as if the season just started yesterday, but yet here we are and it’s already the end of September and the season is over and what a season it was. For those of you that are like me and like to track statistics and keep score, Toyota-United had its best season ever with 71 wins and 154 podiums to date. I think most will agree that in this modern era of America cycling, this is pretty spectacular and arguably the best season any domestic team has ever had when you consider the fact that there are so many big tours in America now with strong European teams present and a depth of competition that did not previously exist week in and week out. 
September was another month of big wins for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team as one of our many Australians, Henk Vogels, opened the account up early on September 1 by winning a stage and the overall classification of the Gateway Cup in St. Louis, MO. This was an especially impressive series for Henk and he was the lone Toyota-United representative against a very solid regional field of 6-8 man teams.
event of the 2008 season, the Tour of Missouri. The Tour of MO started on the 8th of September in KC, MO and finished 7 days later in St Louis, MO. Along the way the riders faced an endless series of rolling hill through the Ozark mountains. These “rolling” stages were a perfect recipe for field sprints and that ended up being the case at the finish for 5 of the 6 mass-start events. To make things interesting the organizers threw in a very challenging individual time trail on day 3 in Branson, MO and the winner of that stage in 2007 (Levi Leipheimer) called it the hardest time trial he’d ever done….and Levi’s pretty much done them all.
Dominique wasted no time showing off his great form on stage one as he took first place on both of the categorized “King of the Mountains” climbs and made it clear that he intended to keep the jersey all the way to St. Louis. Although the KOM jersey had not originally been one of our objective, we quickly made it one and I’m happy to say that through a series of heads-up riding on the team’s part and the sheer power and strength of Dominique, he did make it all the way to St. Louis as the Tour of MO “King of the Mountains” winner.
Dominique Rollin has had an incredible year with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team with 13 race wins, including impressive stage wins at the Amgen Tour of California and Cascade Cycling Classic.
