November 29/21 21:19 pm - Premier Tech Announces U23 Team

Posted by Editoress on 11/29/21
 

Canadian company Premier Tech has announced that it will sponsor an Under-23 men's road team beginning next season. The team will be a UCI Continental level squad and will be named the Premier Tech U-23 Cycling Project. The team will consist of ten riders, seven of whom are Canadian, including current Junior Points Race world champion Dylan Bibic. Premier Tech was most recently co-sponsor of the Astana WorldTour team before splitting at the end of the past season. It has been linked with Israel Start-Up Nation and works closely with Canadian pro Hugo Houle.

The riders:

Dylan Bibic, 19 (Can),
Charles-Étienne Chrétien, 22 (Can)
Matisse Julien, 18 (Can)
Francis Juneau, 20 (Can)
Carson Miles 20 (Can)
Robin Plamondon 21 (Can)
Nicolas Rivard 19 (Can)
Riley Sheehan 20 (USA)
Florient Carpentier 19 (Fra)
Guillaume Dauschy 22 (Fra)

The team will be led by Frenchman Flavien Dassonville, a former professional rider with BigMat-Auber 93. Retired since 2018, he is now in his fourth season as sports director. The team will be based out of Breuil-le Sec, France, where the athletes will live and train.

"With this initiative, Premier Tech reinforces its commitment toward cycling," says Jean Bélanger, president and chief executive officer of Premier Tech, in a statement. "It is important for us to be present in many areas of the sport, whether with local amateur teams or professional ones. The creation of the U23 team reaffirms our commitment toward the development of this sport."

Belanger also spoke about the involvement of Hugo Houle in the development of the team, in an interview with radio Canada:  "Hugo has a great vision for this sport. He has an excellent perspective on what could have brought him to the level where he is. He's very lucid and very grateful for what it took him and how lucky he was, because it takes luck in life. And he saw this void for our beautiful young athletes who unfortunately hung on their bikes or their professional ambitions of this sport. Hugo and me have been working on this for several years."

Houle said to Radio Canada that after a training camp in January and February, the riders will compete in early season races in Belgium, but return to Canada for races such as the Tour de Beauce and National Championships, before returning to Europe.

The team will also receive support from Kevin Field (former national team manager), Gervais Rioux (founder of Argon-18) and Pierre Hutsebaut.

Dylan Bibic with his 10 Gold Medals from Track Nationals

Carson Miles, best U23 at 2021 Road Nationals