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About the Marco Polo Cycling Team PDF Print E-mail

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The Marco Polo Cycling Team is the first professional cycling team from Ethiopia. The team is an international team with the best Ethiopian riders integrated between experienced western riders. Management is from Europe, but the sportive target is the development of cycling talent from non-traditional cycling countries, with the focus on Ethiopia. Therefore the program of the team is mainly in Europe, where Ethiopian riders can gain a lot of experience in the Pro and Pro-Am races
Experienced western riders include Dutch Léon van Bon (two Tour de France stage victories; medals at World's and Olympics), Matthé Pronk (big wins in Belgium and European Champion, world record holder on the track) and Belgium Jan Kuyckx (2nd at World Tour classic Paris-Tours).

The Marco Polo Cycling Team is an unconventional and international team, in a traditional and Europe-oriented cycling scene. The team is named after Marco Polo, who brought the best of Asia and China to the outside world. Which is what the team is aiming to do in cycling - untill 2011 with China and Asian, from 2012 with Ethiopia.

The team did cooperate with reputed companies like Trek bicycles (the bike brand that Lance Armstrong won 7 Tour de Frances on), Discovery Channel, AMD, Cervélo, Herbalife and GE Energy.

In 2011 the first Ethiopian riders made their way into the Marco Polo Cycling Team. Estifanos Gebresilassie and Solomon Shiferaw convinced the team of the enormous athletic potential of Ethiopian cycling. This led to a further cooperation with the Ethiopian Cycling Federation and a registration of the team in Ethiopia in 2012. Intentions of team and ECF are to cooperate with eachother, at least until the Olympic Games of 2016. Other impressive performances included podium finishes in Pro races by Marc Ryan; and a 6th place in the World Championships Time Trial U23 by Jason Christie.

The team has raced all over the world and won many stage races, stages and classifications in international tours, over the past years.
For example: overall winner of the Tour du Maroc, Qinghai-Tibet (Qingzhang Plateau race), Tour du Faso (2 times), Tour de Beijing, Tour de Sri Lanka, Tour d’Indonesia, Tour de Korea, Tour de Siam and Tour of Thailand.
Several national Champions and the Champions of Asia as well as Oceania were part of the team.

Marco Polo Cycling and the Chinese Cycling Association cooperated for 7 years, based on an agreement that aims for preparation of the best Chinese riders towards the Beijing Olympics 2008 - with the highlights of qualifying China for the Olympic road race by Fuyu Li. Hopefully we can do the same with Ethiopia! 

Remarkable rider on the team:
-     Leon van Bon, former World Championships and Olympic Games medalist + winner of 2 Tour de France stages.

- Matthé Pronk, big wins in Belgium, several times Dutch Champion, European Champion and world record holder on the track

- Jan Kuyckx, 2nd at World Tour classic Paris-Tours

For more information: www.marcopolocyclingteam.com

History:

The Marco Polo Cycling Club was founded in 2000 and named after the famous traveller, Marco Polo. The mission and goals of the club were, and still are, to provide talented cyclists from non-traditional cycling countries -often not the richest countries in the world- an opportunity to develop into world-class professionals. 
 
Not long after the creation of the Marco Polo Cycling club a semi-professional team was started to stay true to its original mission. In the short time that the Marco Polo Cycling Team has been in existence, the team has raced all over the world and won many stages, stage races and classifications in countries such as: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Burkina Faso, and South-Korea and was also successful in race in Western Europe.
 
In 2004, Marco Polo Cycling signed a contract with the Chinese Cycling Association in an effort to recruit, train and prepare the best Chinese rider for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 
 
In 2006, Fuyu Li from the Marco Polo Cycling Team won the All China Games, Tour of Thailand as well as numerous races throughout Europe. His hard work and success resulted in a contract with the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team for 2007, making him the first ever Chinese rider to race at the sports elite level, the UCI Pro Tour. 
 
Upon signing Li with Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, well known for their 7 Tour de France wins by Lance Armstrong. A partnership between the two Teams was created, resulting in the formation of the 2007 Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team.

Here you find two background stories on the first years and the recent time of the Marco Polo Cycling Team:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2008/marco_polo_feb08
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2008/marco_polo2_mar08

Best results in the past from Marco Polo Cycling Team:

Marco Polo Cycling Team
Overall winner "Tour du Maroc"
Overall winner "Qinghai-Tibet" (China)
Overall winner "Pahang Cycle Challenge" (Malaysia)
Overall winner "Tour du Faso" (Burkina Faso, Africa) 2 times
Overall winner "Tour de Beijing" (China)
Overall winner "Tour de Korea"
Overall winner "Tour de Sri Lanka"
Overall winner "Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia"
Overall winner "Tour of Siam" (Thailand)
Overall winner "Tour de Thailand"
1st Team GC - Tour of Siam (Thailand)
2nd GC Tour of Qinghai Lake (China)
2nd GC Tour of Japan
3rd individual GC Tour of Siam (Thailand)
3rd GC Tour de Hokkaido (Japan)
3rd GC Tour de Korea
3rd GC Tour of East Java (Indonesia)
5th GC Tour of Qatar 

Marco Polo Cycling Team riders:

Leon van Bon (The Netherlands, former Olympics and World Championships medalist, winner of two Tour de France stages)
Matthe Pronk (The Netherlands)

Daniel Abraham (Eritrea)
Sven de Weerdt (Belgium)
Jan Kuyckx (Belgium)

Solomon Bitew Shiferaw (Ethiopia)
Estifanos Kebede Gebresilassie (Ethiopia)

Team program:

March:
Netherlands, Germany and Belgium

April
Netherlands, Germany and Belgium

May
Netherlands, Germany and Belgium

June
Netherlands, Germany and Belgium

July
Tour of Qinghai Lake (China)

August
After Tour de France races Europe

September
Netherlands, Germany and Belgium

Oktober
Tour of China

November
Tour of Hainan (China)

December
Tour of South China Sea (China)

 
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