A leap into History...
One small leap for me, One giant leap for SRAM. This photo sums it up. Leap (aka the frog) has made it to Paris and beyond. Dirk shot this photo of me waving the flag early in the final stage on Sunday the 29th awaiting the riders at the Place de la Concorde. The flag is a symbol of our products and our technology. It¹s a concluding image and a concluding entry in our "Tour de Force".
The road to Paris and becoming ProTour proven was long. It started as I said a while ago about 2 years ago. Its been filled with ups and downs, but mostly ups. Its been a huge undertaking, with countless people that have helped along the way. If I had to sum it up, it would be hard but with the great product and great people we did it and won. We've overcome huge criticism and skepticism. We¹ve overcome a very conservative audience. We have come to the tour and completed it. Thousands of miles in rental cars. Thousands of miles in RV's. Thousands of frog stickers. Thousands of miles on bikes. Thousands of pushes on the DoubleTap controls. Thousands of spins of the Force Crankset. And thousands of little details that went into supporting it all.
Many thanks go out to all of us that have helped. First to Scott Bikes. Without the trust and partnership of Pascal and Hermann we wouldn't have had this opportunity. Next thanks to the core team at Saunier Duval aka GM bikes Mauro, Matxim, David, Jose, Daniele, Roberto, Robert, Virginie, and all those that support the Saunier Duval team Thanks. Then the riders Raul, Jose, Raivis, Rubens, David C, David D, Iker, Juan Jose, Jesus, Alberto, Arkaitz, Koldo, Jose Angel, Angel, Ruben, Peter, Iban, David M, Javier, Manuele, Leonardo, Christophe, Lucianio, Riccardo, Gilberto, Francisco, Guido, and Carlos thanks for your patience, your trust, and your perseverance you¹ve been a great team to work with, and we look forward to another successful year. Don¹t relax too much as the season isn't over quite yet - Force still has quite some miles that you¹ll be putting on. Next up is the team at SRAM; Ron, Charles, Scott, Dirk, Gaetan, Wim, Markus, Alex, Andy, Michael, Benny, Michael, JoAna and all the team at SRAM who delivered kickass products and support to help us launch the most successful product in the cycling industry!
I wrote everything above right after the finish on Sunday on my way from Paris to Munich. Monday night I arrived in Munich to find out about the news on Mayo. I was filled with mixed emotions and unsure about an actual reaction. Certainly its disappointing news and something that we had no idea about, but for us were not judging. For us, its all about our products. We developed the Force line of components to be ProTour ready and race proven. They were developed by a huge team and then sent out in the marketplace with a huge line of support. Saunier Duval is our first ProTour team, but certainly not our first team to compete successfully on our products. We've had countless individuals and professional organizations riding SRAM for years now. In fact to date we have logged over 1 million kilometers on the product. We will continue to design and develop innovative products for you through all the ups and downs of the sport. We believe in cycling. We believe in performance products. That¹s what we do and who we are. We believe in ourselves and the people around us. We are SRAM.
