Phonak (cycling team)

Phonak (UCI Team Code: PHO) was a Swiss professional cycling team from 2000 until 2006. The team was one of 20 teams in the first UCI ProTour in 2005. It won one race - Santiago Botero's victory in the Tour de Romandie - and came second in the team ranking on the 2005 ProTour circuit.

A sponsor, iShares (subsidiary of Barclays Global Investors) signed a three-year contract in June 2006 to become the team's title sponsor from 2007. The team's name was to be iShares. Andy Rihs, owner of Phonak Hearing Systems, said on 15 August 2006 that the deal had been called off after the team's leader, Floyd Landis, tested positive for high levels of testosterone, and that the team would disband at the end of 2006.^[1]

Team Phonak in Paris in the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France.

During 2004 Phonak concentrated on supporting Tyler Hamilton in the Tour de France. He crashed and withdrew and was later suspended for blood doping. Hamilton was not the last rider removed for doping, leading Phonak to stop sponsorship after 2006.

The riders accused of doping in 2004 were Hamilton, Santiago Pérez,^[2] Oscar Camenzind, Fabrizio Guidi (who was cleared) and Sascha Urweider.^[3]

On 5 August 2006 Phonak dismissed Floyd Landis after confirmation that a urine sample taken after his Stage 17 win twice tested positive for synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.^[4] His 2006 Tour de France win was disallowed by the Union Cycliste Internationale on September 20, 2007.^[5]

Team Rankings

Phonak won the team classification at:

• 2006 Giro d'Italia – Trofeo Fast Team and Trofeo Super Team (points)
• 2006 Volta a Catalunya
• 2006 Tour of Qatar
• Paris-Nice 2006
• 2006 Tour de Georgia

Final Roster

Rider Date of birth  Santiago Botero (COL) (1972-10-27)October 27, 1972  Aurélien Clerc (SUI) (1979-08-26)August 26, 1979  Martin Elmiger (SUI) (1978-09-23)September 23, 1978  Luis Fernández (ESP) (1980-01-19)January 19, 1980  Bert Grabsch (GER) (1975-06-19)June 19, 1975  Fabrizio Guidi (ITA) (1972-04-13)April 13, 1972  Ignacio Gutiérrez (ESP) (1977-12-01)December 1, 1977  José Enrique Gutiérrez (ESP) (1974-06-18)June 18, 1974  Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) (1980-12-09)December 9, 1980  Robert Hunter (RSA) (1977-04-22)April 22, 1977  Nicolas Jalabert (FRA) (1973-04-13)April 13, 1973  Floyd Landis (USA) (1975-10-14)October 14, 1975  Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero (ESP) (1972-10-14)October 14, 1972  Jonathan McCarty (USA) (1982-01-24)January 24, 1982

Rider Date of birth  Axel Merckx (BEL) (1972-08-08)August 8, 1972  Koos Moerenhout (NED) (1973-11-05)November 5, 1973  Alexandre Moos (SUI) (1972-12-22)December 22, 1972  Steve Morabito (SUI) (1983-01-30)January 30, 1983  Uroš Murn (SLO) (1975-02-09)February 9, 1975  Víctor Hugo Peña (COL) (1974-07-10)July 10, 1974  Grégory Rast (SUI) (1980-01-17)January 17, 1980  Michael Schär (SUI) (1986-09-29)September 29, 1986  Florian Stalder (SUI) (1982-09-13)September 13, 1982  Johann Tschopp (SUI) (1982-07-01)July 1, 1982  Sascha Urweider (SUI) (1980-09-18)September 18, 1980  David Vitoria (SUI) (1984-10-15)October 15, 1984  Steve Zampieri (SUI) (1977-06-04)June 4, 1977

Major Results

National Champions

2001

1st Switzerland Time Trial Championship, Jean Nuttli

2002

1st Switzerland Road Race Championship, Alexandre Moos

1st Belarus Road Race Championship, Alexandre Usov

2003

1st Switzerland Road Race Championship, Daniel Schnider

2004

1st Switzerland Road Race Championship, Grégory Rast

1st Slovenia Road Race Championship, Uroš Murn

2005

1st Switzerland Road Race Championship, Martin Elmiger

2006

1st Switzerland Road Race Championship, Grégory Rast

References

External links

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