Earlier today Fuji Bicycles USA announced that it will sponsor the recently launched professional road cycling Team Geox-TMC in 2011 and beyond. Fuji Bicycles will join key team sponsors shoe manufacturer Geox and TMC Transformers.

Team Geox-TMC will also have a women's team in 2011, also with Fuji Bicycles as bike supplier. Additionally, Geox will now support a Belgian-American amateur squad (in the 2010 season named Fuji TestTeam) that will serve as the ProTour Geox-TMC team's food chain.

Pat Cunnane, President of Advanced Sports International, parent company of Fuji Bicycles today said the new sponsorship agreement is a positive step forward for the Fuji bike brand. "We have worked with Mauro Gianetti for several years now as sponsors of the Fuji-Servetto and Footon-Servetto teams and we are very pleased to partner with him again for 2011 and beyond," Cunnane commented.

"The power racing in the ProTour has clearly been a major benefit to our brands (Fuji and Oval Concepts), as well as to our suppliers' brands," Cunnane continued and added "We've shown our products can survive the rigors and punishment of the Tour de France, the Tour of Flanders and other major races under some of the best riders in the world and because of that we have gained immense credibility."

The 2011 Geox-TMC pro team as well as the amateur team will be riding Fuji's new light road bike, the Fuji Altamira. The elite women's team, formerly the Safi-Pasta Zara team based in Italy, will be racing on Fuji's new women's-specific carbon road model, the Fuji Supreme bike. All three teams will race on Fuji's D-6 time trial bike.

"The debut of the Geox brand in cycling and the return by TMC is a project that wants to create more than just a cycling team. The objectives are not just to achieve important sporting results, the promotion of the Geox brand at an international level, the discovery and development of young talent, but also the application of the patented technology of Geox for breathability. And we are confident that this continuing partnership with the Fuji Bicycle brand, already our great sponsor for two years (2009, 2010, ed.), will enable us to reach our goals for the team," General manager of Team Geox-TMC Mauro Gianetti commented.

Gianetti has succeeded at signing major riders for the 2011 Team Geox-TMC including 2005 & 2007 Vuelta a Espana and 2009 Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov and 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre. Other riders signed for 2011 include Giampaolo Cheula, Rafael Valls, Arkaitz Duran, Noe Gianetti, Fabio Felline, Matthias Brandle and Marco Corti (coming from Team Footon-Servetto), plus Spanish climber David De la Fuente from Astana, Marcel Wyss from Cervelo TestTeam, Fabio Duarte, Marko Kump, and Matteo Pelucchi.

The Fuji-sponsored women's team, called Diadora-Pasta Zara, is lead by team president Maurizio Fabretti. Diadora-Pasta Zara will feature Americans Mara Abbot, winner of the 2010 Giro d'Italia Femminile and Shelley Evans, U.S. National Criterium Champion. Russian Olga Zabelinskaya and Eleonora Patuzzo junior world champion in 2007 will also both be key team elements, according to the team management.

The international amateur squad, directed by Bernard Moerman, includes former USA-military Champion Ian Holt, Peter Horn (USA), Aaron Pool (USA), Finland's U23 champion Paavo Paajanen, Anthony Louis (Fr), Arne Casier (Bel), and Thomas Van Haecke (Bel).