Quantcast
Amgen Tour of California Email Sign-Up |   

Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies

Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies Team Name: Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies
Country: United States
Team Website: www.optumprocycling.com
2012 Roster: 18 riders
Bikes Used: Orbea Orca and Orbea Ordu (TT)

2011 Highlights

  • Amgen Tour of California: Fifth place stage
  • Cascade Classic: Second place stage
  • Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste - Trophee des Granitiers: Two Fourth place stages
  • Nature Valley Grand Prix: First place General Classification, First place Most Aggressive Rider (Stage 4) and two Second place stages
  • Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium: First place Most Aggressive Rider
  • Schaal Sels: Fifth place General Classification
  • Tour de Taiwan: Two Fourth place stages
  • Tour of Elk Grove: Third place General Classification
  • Tour of Utah: One stage win
  • Univest Grand Prix Criterium: First place General Classification
  • Univest Grand Prix: First place General Classification and First place Sprint Classification

About

Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies continues the rich cycling tradition established by Kelly Benefit Strategies in 2007. For five years, Kelly Benefit Strategies and Circuit Global Sports Management fielded the only UCI-registered Continental team in the US with a 100% North American roster. Optum continues this legacy in 2012 as the new title partner. Also new to the program in 2012 – a women's team featuring some of the top athletes (and Olympian short listers) in America. Since becoming the first-ever freshman team to win the USPRO Criterium Championship, the team has consistently won at the highest level of the sport and stayed true to the values of its partners.

The team features a balanced roster of time trialists, climbers, and sprinters, comprised of some of the most experienced racers in North America today. With UCI stage race victories on four Continents, victory at the USPRO Criterium Championship twice, and podium spots at the USPRO Road Race and the USPRO Time Trial, the team has consistently competed at the highest echelons of Continental cycling.

Optum, a health services company, helps make the system work better for everyone - from employers, to government organizations, to consumers who access the health care system. Each day the company helps improve how health care is managed, how information shapes and drives improvements in the system, and how technology enables better care. As title sponsor of the team in 2012, Optum carries on a unique tradition in the sport established by KBS, placing a focus not only on winning bike races, but supporting and promoting healthy lifestyles, personal accountability, and ethical sporting standards around the world.

Last year, they became one of the only Continental teams ever to win a stage of a major UCI Tour in the US when Jesse Anthony won stage 1 of the Tour of Utah. Anthony claimed victory at the Nature Valley Grand Prix later that summer, the highest ranking NRC event in America and a "hometown race" for Eden Prairie, MN based Optum. Known for their aggressive tactics and focused team efforts, expect to see Optum Pro Cycling p/b KBS on the attack in sunny California.