Vinyl decals sheets roll off the printer, ready to be applied

The SRAM NRS program starts with a top notch staff that includes several of the nations premiere technicians; Butch Balzano, Jose Alcala, and Chad Contreras are the three mainstays. Each of their Volvo XC-70’s, capable of hauling up to six Specialized bikes, tools, spare parts, pumps, wheels, coolers, a virtual rolling service course. The XC-70’s are beautiful cars and, according to Butch, drive like a dream, even when fully loaded.

Butch walks by a few of the finished cars

SRAM adopted this program in 2006 and will enter their fifth year of service as ‘SRAM NRS.’ Attached are some pictures that take you through the process of turning these Volvo’s from Clark Kent in to Superman (yep, another analogy), but it’s really only a change of outfits, but we at SRAM are incredibly proud of what the entire program accomplishes every year and the top notch service they provide.

The Volvo, naked, moments before the decals are applied, the process takes a few hours for each vehicle

The side gets wrapped, slowly but surely

…very nice…

Window perforations being printed, these go on the side and rear glass, easy to see out but not easy to see in. This helps protect the spare wheels, tireds, tubes and parts stored in the car from direct sun exposure and heat
href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/theroaddiaries/4341011438/” title=”The 2010 SRAM NRS Volvos get wrapped by The Road Diaries, on Flickr”>

Very nice, looking forward to seeing these cars on the road…

Thanks to Jose Alcala and Justin Costa for photo and editorial contributions.

SRAM is on the road in Calpe Spain this week for the second & final gathering of the nearly-complete Team RadioShack staff, riders and sponsors. From here the gang splits and hits the road starting with Portugal’s Volta ao Algarve next week and the merry-go-round doesn’t stop till next October. Since last December in Tucson, then the season kick off in Adelaide Australia, the puzzle pieces are getting laid in their proper place and Team RadioShack Pro Tour cycling team portrait is nearly ready.

Directors and riders are already tracking Johan’s long term plans for “the Tour team” as well as the classics and Tour of California programs. Two different squads head out daily to tune the engines for those respective goals.

For SRAM that means getting all the top end Red parts ready & shipped for bike builds at the Team’s service course in Brakel Belgium. No mean feat considering the sheer volume of home, training, multiple race road and TT bikes, not to mention all the spare parts/wheels for several race trucks, technical staffs and geographical headquarters that are required to keep this powerhouse running. Then there’s the equipment for special races like ‘Roubaix and of course the Tour De France where we & Trek like to flex our development muscle and give the athletes that extra lift in special bearings and materials or sometimes even just national colors or nicknames added to let them personalize their equipment. We look forward to telling the stories of that stuff in due time.

So here’s a sampling from our Calpe photojournal so far. Check out the rest of the Road Diaries’ Flickr album(s) for more pics.

Be back soon!

Before you pose wearing these duds, you get to drink in the crowd on the final straightaway…

We were fortunate witness Telenet Fidea’s Zdenek Stybar seal his perfect season of cyclocross from a great vantage point. I can’t imagine how special he must have felt performing-then-delivering in front of his home crowd. What a race!

(Photo courtesy of photopress.be & Telenet Fidea Team)

Zdenek Stybar (CZE) was the fastest man when it counted on Sunday and made history for SRAM by winning the 2010 Men’s Elite World Cyclocross Championships! Stybar capped a great season, and was certainly one of the favorites leading up to the race, wrapping up the World Cup overall title just last weekend. Certainly there were no guarantees and the 24-year-old had all the motivation he needed, twice finishing second on this same stage (’08, ’09). The course would certainly challenge any componentry with ice, mud, and lots of sand, which was put down to improve traction.

Stybar was riding a Ridley X-Night with a complete SRAM RED group set (BB30 cranks) and Avid’s new Shorty Ultimate brakes (soon to go into production). He, along with his trade team teammates, have been test pilots for the new Avid Shorty Ultimates, and now the new brakes wear the rainbow bands even before going into production! Post-race Stybar was elated with his result and expressed undeniable satisfaction with all of his componentry.

RESULTS

SRAM equipped racers continue the winning in 2010 by taking three cyclocross World Cup titles in Hoogerheide, Netherlands.  Teammates Zdenek Stybar and Tom Meeusen  (Telenet-Fidea) piloted their Red equipped Ridley X-Nights to the Elite and U-23 titles and Daphny Van den Brand (ZZPR.nl/Destil) locked up the women’s title on her Force equipped Merida.  All three head into next week’s World Championship on the short list of race favorites.

Stybar was supported by teammate Kevin Pauwels during the race, both riders will be lining up on the new Avid Shorty Ultimate brakes on what could be an icy course in Tabor.  Van den Brand will also be able to count on her trade teammate Sanne Van Paassen, both have been chosen for the Netherlands women’s team.

American Cycolcross Champion Tim Johnson warms up in Hoogerheide (photo: McKenney)

The talk in the American pits was not only looking forward to the Worlds next week but a possibility of Louisville, Kentucky hosting the event in 2013.  Both Katie Compton and Jeremy Powers were excited at the possibility of racing for rainbow stripes on home soil.  Katie is hoping a week of rest will see her to good form in Tabor while the Cyclocrossworld.com/Cannondale trio of Jeremy, Jamey Driscoll and Tim Johnson used Hoogerheide as a final tune up.  US National Champion Johnson took 32^nd on his first race in Europe this season while Driscoll (40^th) and Powers (51^st) added to a solid European campaign.  Meredith Miller (20^th, California Giant Berry) and Maureen Bruno Roy (23^rd, MMRacing p/b Seven Cycles) rounded out a strong showing by American riders heading to the Worlds.

Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com team wrench Stu Thorne preps bikes for the final World Cup race in Hoogerheide

Pictures and post provided by SRAM’s man on the streets in Europe, Chris McKenney.

SRAM’s daily diarist Luke Roberts has finished 5th in his comeback to the UCI Pro Tour. Although Luke lost out today on time bonus seconds to Greg Henderson and Robbie McEwen and dropped from 3rd to 5th it was a great performance. Luke was SRAM’s best finishing rider in the TDU and gave Team Milram a much welcome lift up the Pro Tour rankings. Here’s what Luke had to say after the final stage.

Milram’s Tour Down Under top gun Luke Roberts has been racing the new Focus Izalco team bike this week in Adelaide. The bike is completely reworked from last years model with SRAM’s BB30 crankset and full internal cabling. The white colour scheme matches the team kit perfectly and the bike has attracted a heap of attention at the race.

Luke is nr.96

SRAM Red Shifters and custom colour on the Lightweight wheels

Powered by SRAM, Red rear derailleur, PC1090 chain, PG1070 cassette and white Gore ride on cable housing

Full internal cable routing leaves the bike looking clean

Sky Takes Final Stage, Greipel Overall Win At Tour Down Under

Santos Tour Down Under- Sunday, January 24
Stage 6 / Adelaide / 90km

The TDU’s final stage is 20 laps of the 4.5 kilometre circuit over 90km that featured the parks and greenery of South Australia’s capital city Adelaide and as usual, it ended in a massive bunch sprint in front of over 100,000 fans. Andre Greipel has become just the the second rider in the 12 year history of the Tour Down Under to win the race twice after a dominating performance by the big German and his HTC-Columbia team, winning three of the races six stages. ”

Greipel said post-race “The other teams had to do the work (on Stage 6) if they wanted to win. (HTC-Columbia) just stayed calm and managed our own race. I am very happy to have won this race twice, the team have ridden well all week and we deserve this.”

In the final sprint of Stage 6, Sydney’s Chris ‘CJ’ Sutton of Team Sky won ahead of his Sky teammate Greg Henderson (NZL). “I could not believe that sprint, we talked about our team tactics last night”, crowed Sutton after the win. “It was all about teamwork today, we took control with two km to go and we had the perfect lead out,” said Sutton.

SRAM Red equipped TDU King of the Mountain Thomas Rohregger (Milram) took the climbing title ahead of two other SRAM Red equipped riders; Valeriy Dmitriyev (Astana) and David Kemp (Team UniSA-Australia). The German said post-race “I think Milram did a really good race at the TDU, we tried really hard but unfortunately Luke Roberts lost his podium place and that was bad luck, it would have been better if he had of kept this place but overall we had a good week. I love this race here in Australia, the crowd is amazing it is like the Tour de France and the Giro I am looking forward to next year and I hope I can defend this title”. SRAM Red equipped Ag2r-La Mondiale took the Team Classification title, with 2007 TDU winner Martin Elmiger best placed in 16th. Elmiger explained “we had a good training camp before the start of the TDU and we were all in good harmony. It was important that everybody had the self confidence and most importantly that we had everyone together. Without a team you don’t win the race.”

Post-race, SRAM Red equipped Lance Armstrong twittered “All done w/ @tourdownunder. Fast race (in) downtown Adelaide. Impressive crowds again. Congrats 2 Sutton/Henderson w/ Team Sky for 1st and 2nd.” Armstrong’s Team RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel explained “All the guys did the perfect job, everybody did their best and let’s not forget it’s only January so it’s very early in the season. Overall I think it’s been good, I’m happy with the team. I’m very impressed with Andre Greipel and also with Team Sky.”

Earlier on Stage 6, Sky’s Henderson benefited from winning the first of the intermediate sprints, thus securing his place on the overall podium ahead of Luke Roberts, who started the day in third. Robbie McEwen then clinched fourth place on gc by winning the second intermediate sprint. Australian riders Wes Sulzberger (Française des Jeux) and Trent Lowe (Garmin-Transitions) plus Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo) then rode off the front for the last five laps, but were brought back in the final kilometres.

Stage 6 Results
1. Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky 1h53’20”
5. Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia
6. Allan Davis (Aus) Astana (SRAM Red)
9. Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team RadioShack (SRAM Red)
77. Lance Armstrong (USA) Team RadioShack @ 16” (SRAM Red)

TDU Final General Classification
1. Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia 18h47’05”
5. Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram (SRAM Red)
10. Markus Fothen (Ger) Team Milram @ :27” (SRAM Red)
11. Baden Cooke (Aus) Team Saxo Bank @ :29”(SRAM Red)
13. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana (SRAM Red)
25. Lance Armstrong (USA) Team RadioShack @ 1:03” (SRAM Red)

Cyril Dessel is one of Ag2r’s best riders. As a Tour de France stage winner and former Yellow jersey he certainly commands plenty of attention in France. Here’s a look at his Kuota KOM.

Kuota KOM

Sweet ride for Cyril

SRAM BB30 crankset and SRAM 1090R chain

SRAM Red RD

French all the way

Like the brown touches?

White Gore ride on looks great with SRAM Red

SRAM daily diarist, Milram’s Luke Roberts has been getting better every day here at the Tour Down Under but today on the ‘King’ stage he really showed his class. The Athens Olympic Gold medallist shot past Alejandro Valverde and current World Champion Cadel Evans in the final meters to take an impressive second in the stage behind Luis Leon Sanchez. Luke  had some great help from Marcus Fothen and is now sitting in 3rd overall going into the final days racing, which is a fantastic position in his comeback Pro Tour race. With Robbie McEwen and Greg Henderson just seconds behind tomorrow will be a big day, so here’s what Luke has to say.