With the 2010 season about to get underway, the German Milram team has divided its forces across two islands to help ensure a successful debut. Currently the team has the riders taking part in the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman training on their own on the Spanish island of Mallorca, while another group is trying something new on the island of Cyprus.
Christian Knees, Fabian Wegmann, Johannes Fröhlinger, Mattias Ruß and Paul Voß are all taking part in the training camp experiment on Cyprus, and will remain there until January 20th. The Mediterranean island is providing the riders with optimal weather conditions as they continue to build their form.
"Training on Cyprus is a nice change from our usual places," said MILRAM's Fabian Wegmann. "Everything is good here, especially the weather – it is about ten degrees warmer than on Mallorca, for example. The training conditions are perfect, some of the roads are brand new and you can ride for hours and barely see a car."
Wegmann headed to the eastern Mediterranean island with Johannes Fröhlinger and Matthias Ruß immediately following the team presentation on January 7, and have been familiarizing themselves with the roads prior to the arrival of Christian Knees and Paul Voß.
So far the island has been a good fit for the team. Cyprus is the the third-largest Mediterranean island, and offers a variety of terrain allowing the riders to train effectively.
"The weather here is better than expected," explained Fröhlinger. "With temperatures up to 24° Celsius we can even ride in short pants and short-sleeved jerseys."
The Milram riders have been training with cycling guides supplied by the Cyprus Tourism Organization through team co-sponsor FBI Reisebuüro. "We have a guide with us, who explains where we can ride, so that we have a course with the fewest possible problems. Cyprus is a good alternative and so far, I don't regret having come here," added Fröhlinger.
Last week title sponsor Milram announced that they will not remain the title sponsor for the team beyond 2010. The dairy company has been extremely supportive of the team since its inception in 2006. These are critical times for the German squad, where results will play a big role in finding a replacement sponsor so they can continue in 2011.