The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team is looking to build on its progression when it starts its season in Argentina on Monday. The American Pro Continental team will race the Tour de San Luis from the 23-29 January.
Robert Förster, Jake Keough, Ben Day, Adrian Hegyvary, Jeff Louder, Jason McCartney, Jay Thomson, and Jonny Clarke form the lineup which will square up against the riders on an impressive start list.
“This is our first test of the year and we are excited to get back to racing, especially against the quality field here at the Tour de San Luis,” said General Manager Mike Tamayo.
“We had some success here last year and we’re looking forward to assessing where we are this early in the season and where we can go in 2012.”
The race has grown in its short history and has five WorldTour teams confirmed for the event. They are SaxoBank, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, Movistar, Liquigas-Cannondale and AG2R-La Mondiale.
Alberto Contador, who is waiting to find out the outcome of his Clenbuterol case, is already in the country for the event and is one of the favourites along with Omega Pharma-QuickStep new recruit Levi Leipheimer.
Monday’s opening stage is expected to be one of the sprinters and UnitedHealthcare is likely to work for Förster and Keough. For the more hilly stages, new recruits Day and Louder will look to be impress their new bosses. South African Thomson is one of the breakaways and could play a helping hand in ensuring the team is fresh for the finale.