Team Mercury
By John Alsedek
Ever hear of the saying "an overnight success that was years in
the making"? Well, if any cliché sums up the Mercury Cycling
Team, that particular one would do nicely. In just two seasons, Mercury
has established itself as the premiere domestic-based squad, and is
now preparing to launch its first full-season campaign on the Continent.
An 'overnight success' if ever there was one. Yet, this high-profile,
multi-national team can trace its roots back nearly a decade to the
humblest of beginnings, and to the tireless efforts of its team director,
John Wordin.
That John Wordin even became involved in cycling was somewhat coincidental.
A former college football player, Wordin was encouraged by his brother
to do triathlons. He soon found that, while he didn't like to swim or
run, he rather liked cycling, and became a competitive Southern California
regional racer during the late 1980's. Following a two-year stint in
Europe racing as an amateur, he returned to California and ended up
racing for the nascent L.A. Sheriffs team in 1991. The LA Sheriffs soon
became one of the top U.S. teams and they were perhaps best known for
their team victory in the '93 Tour DuPont. However it was without Wordin,
who, after helping in the club's formation, was released at the end
of the season.
After racing largely unsupported through much of 1992, he decided
to form his own team with long-time U.S. standout Thurlow Rogers, who
was returning to the sport after a several year sabbatical. Wordin landed
them a local supermarket, "Mrs. Gooches", as a sponsor for the rest
of the season, and took on the additional role of team manager: "There
were only two of us, so it was easy." He took his new role very seriously
- after a considerable amount of time and effort, he acquired a new
sponsor for 1993: the Miller Brewing Co., who agreed to field a team
under the Lite Beer brand. The additional funding allowed Wordin to
bring on promising amateurs Chris Horner, John Peters, and Kirk Willett,
and the team finished second in the '93 National Racing Series.
Prospects looked good for 1994 ("I thought we were set"), but at the
last minute, Miller decided to put its money into World Cup sponsorship,
and the team was left without a sponsor shortly after the Redlands Classic
in March. However, instead of letting the team disband, Wordin went
in search of a new sponsor, and found one thanks to his old benefactor,
Mrs. Gooches. At the Los Angeles Natural Foods Show, they introduced
him to representatives of Nutra-Fig, the primary product of the San
Joaquin Fig Company. Wordin had soon convinced San Joaquin president
Keith Jura to finance his team. With Nutra-Fig as a stable base to build
around (they still sponsor a professional team today), Wordin brought
in the Colorado Cyclist mail-order company as a co-sponsor, and helped
develop the core group of riders that he'd brought from the Lite Beer
team.
In 1996, the Nutra-Fig/Colorado Cyclist team had a breakout season.
Early season wins in events like the 89'er Stage Race and the Athens
Twilight Criterium, combined with Wordin's hard work behind the scenes,
convinced Robert Seaman (CEO of the non-profit Millennium Foundation)
to front the Nutra-Fig team additional funding that would allow it to
compete in the Tour DuPont. Pleased with the results that followed,
Chris Horner won a stage, as well as the CoreStates Invitational and
the first race of the Olympic Trials, Seaman agreed to take over sponsorship
of the team in 1997 under the auspices of his Comptel Data Systems company.
This gave Wordin a significant increase in budget while Nutra-Fig continued
to sponsor his developmental program. While the team lost rising star
Horner to the French La Francaise des Jeux squad, Wordin and his charges
had every reason to look at the '97 season with hope. Little did they
know that things would go most unexpectedly awry.
The Comptel/Colorado Cyclist team included Nutra-Fig holdovers Peters,
Rogers, Willett, and Chris Walker, plus two other riders with strong
connections to Wordin: David Clinger, whom Wordin had known since his
early racing days, and Trent Klasna, a former teammate with the LA Sheriffs.
To this group, he added neo-pro Levi Leipheimer, cagey Brit Malcolm
Elliott, and a pair of young riders with European experience: Jonathan
Vaughters, who was returning to the States after two years with the
Spanish Santa Clara team, and Clark Sheehan, a former DuPont stage winner
who was looking to rebound from a disappointing '96 season with U.S.
Postal Service. In this very young lineup, veteran Thurlow Rogers took
on the role of road captain. After juggling racing and a career for
several years, Rogers came back full-time in '97, and was a good influence
on his youthful teammates.
The season started promisingly enough at the Redlands Classic, where
Vaughters won a stage and the team had three riders in the top ten.
Vaughters continued his good early-season form by duplicating Chris
Horner's victory in the 89'er Stage Race. In May, the Comptel squad
headed over to Europe to contest a series of races in Belgium and the
Netherlands, topped off by the nine-day Olympia Tour. While the team
garnered little in the way of results, the expectation was that the
hard, fast Northern European racing would give them the fitness to be
a major factor in the upcoming CoreStates racing series.
However, things just didn't work out. Leipheimer finished ninth in
the first event, Atlanta's First Union Grand Prix, but things went steadily
downhill from there. Early-season top dog, Vaughters was the team's
top finisher in the Thrift Drug Classic, finishing twelfth. In the CoreStates
Invitational, where Chris Horner had outsped two U.S. Postal riders
for the win in '96, Comptel riders Vaughters and Klasna were beaten
by Saturn's Chann McRae in a three-up sprint. Then, to make matters
worse, the team lost $50,000 worth of bikes and other supplies when
their equipment trailer was broken into the night before the CoreStates
Classic. Riding on borrowed bikes, their best performer was sixteenth-placed
Malcolm Elliott. Finally, in America's premiere racing event, the CoreStates
U.S. Professional Championship, they once again came up short, as Vaughters
finished tenth.
The Comptel team soon redeemed itself though: Vaughters won two stages
in the overall at the Tour de Beauce, Peters did the same at the Fitchburg-Longsjo
Classic, and Klasna had a series of solid GC performances, capped off
with a second overall in the Herald-Sun Tour. But behind the scenes,
the bottom had dropped out of the Comptel team: Comptel reneged on its
financial responsibilities, leaving John Wordin with a ton of debt and
the task of keeping the team together regardless. It was during this
time that rider loyalty to Wordin was tested: "Most of the riders were
great and they stuck with me. Some were jerks and were kicked off the
team." Those who remained were rewarded when Wordin's persistence paid
off, and he lured a brand-new sponsor into the sport for 1998: Mercury
Automobiles.
Of course, no one knew that right away. While it was common knowledge
that Wordin had acquired a big-bucks sponsor, it wasn't formally announced
until an auto industry event in February. It proved to be worth the
wait, as Wordin unveiled what he considered to be his best team yet.
True to his philosophy of developing young talent, he replaced his departed
riders with promising Canadians Matt Anand and Mark Walters, New Zealand
sprint ace Julian Dean, homegrown prospect Michael Sayers (from Nutra-Fig),
and two other very interesting signings: Roy Knickman and Gord Fraser.
Knickman had been a junior wunderkind in the early 80's, quickly earning
the tag of "the next LeMond". However, it proved to be an albatross
around his neck. When it turned out that he was merely a very good pro,
and not "the next LeMond", he left the European scene and came back
to the U.S., first to race, and then, from 1995-97, to coach the U.S.
National Team. Coming out of retirement, Knickman brought experience,
strength, and a great attitude to the fledgling Mercury squad.
As for Fraser...he was a powerhouse sprinter whose abilities had never
quite been used fully during his Continental stints with La Mutuelle
de Seine et Marne and Motorola. Wordin looked to him to get the team
immediate results, and Fraser didn't disappoint: he won two stages of
the Redlands Classic and a stage of the Sea Otter Classic, and combined
with Kiwi Dean to form a deadly one-two punch.
During the first half of the season, Mercury appeared to win at will:
besides Fraser's victories, they won both races in the Sequoia Cycling
Classic (Peters and Dean), two stages (Knickman and Willett) and the
overall (Willett) at the Tour of Willamette, and best of all, the Outdoor
Life Network Grand Prix, where Julian Dean eclipsed a top-notch field
that included the U.S. Postal Service team. While Postal management
groused afterwards that Wordin's boys were "an American team made for
American races" that wouldn't make the grade overseas, Mercury soon
put the lie to that.
During a trip to Spain in May, the team proved that they could be
competitive against the world's best. Comeback kid Knickman won the
Sprints Jersey in the Clasica Alcobendas, rookie Sayers wore the Intermediate
Sprints Jersey in the Tour of the Asturias, and Gord Fraser won the
second stage of the Asturias race, outsprinting future world champion
Oscar Freire in the process. It was a vindication of Wordin's program,
and of the Mercury riders, and they went home full of hope for the four-race
series that culminated in the U.S. Professional Championship. Unfortunately,
it once again proved to be a disappointing week for John Wordin - the
best Mercury performance was Kirk Willett's fourteenth in the championship
race. As in '97, his team followed up a sub-par performance there by
riding well in the Tour de Beauce (two stage wins and fourth overall)
and the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic (two stage wins).
Then in July, longtime Wordin protégé David Clinger
came to the fore. He finished third overall to Lance Armstrong in Oregon's
Cascade Classic, and took two stages on his way to fourth on GC in the
Tour de 'Toona. But these performances were to be just a prelude, as
he shone for the Mercury team in the "young rider's Tour de France",
the prestigious Tour de l'Avenir. He made the crucial split in stage
four, and moved up to twelfth overall, and took a solid fourth place
in the next day's stage. By placing fourteenth in the stage six time
trial, he vaulted all the way up to seventh place, where he hovered
for the next two days. However, the final stage was held in atrocious
weather conditions that eliminated over half the field (sprinter Dean
showed great character by simply finishing); Clinger lost 46 minutes
to stage winner, and overall victor Christophe Rinero, but still finished
a fine fifteenth overall. It was a result that boded well for the 1999
season.
John Wordin spent the winter of 1998 tweaking the lineup: Dean, Walters,
and later, Anand moved on, to be replaced by Derek Bouchard-Hall (ex-Shaklee),
Scott Moninger (ex-Navigators), and a trio of rookies: Mexicans Christian
Valenzuela and Jesus Zarate, and former mountain biker Floyd Landis.
As in 1998, they got off to a fast start, as Thurlow Rogers won the
Tour of Willamette and Gord Fraser took the Tour LeFleur. Also as in
'98, they had a successful racing trip abroad: Peters won the Sprint
Jersey, and Moninger placed twelfth overall in the Tour of Rioja. Fraser
sprinted to two top-five stage finishes in the Tour of the Asturias,
and Clinger continued his development by winning the Meta Volante in
the Clasica Alcobendas, and strong performances in the Rioja and Asturias
events.
However, where Mercury's '99 season separated itself from the past
was at the First Union Series, which had been so difficult for Wordin's
riders in years past. They placed two riders in the top ten at the First
Union Invitational (Mercury hadn't even had a finisher in '98), Fraser
was seventh in the First Union Classic (their top placing in '98 was
twentieth), and had a more active, if not more successful, ride at the
U.S. Professional Championship. The highlight of the week for Mercury
was at the Christiana Care Cup. Against a field including the likes
of Mapei, Saeco, and the U.S. Postal Service, Mercury placed three riders
in the decisive twelve-man break; Zarate and Clinger made it a 1-2 finish
for the 'Green Wave'.
Coming off those strong performances, the '98/'99 comparison resumed,
as again a young Mercury rider began to turn promise into results. This
time, it was Floyd Landis, who cranked off an excellent series of rides,
such as fourth overall in the Tour de Beauce, and a stage win and second
overall in the Cascade Classic. Combined with Clinger's good form -
he'd taken the Tour de 'Toona and taken third in Mercury's 1-2-3 sweep
at Cascades (Scott Moninger won), Mercury was extremely optimistic going
into the Tour de l'Avenir. That optimism was to be highly rewarded:
Landis made a race-shaping four-man break in Stage Four and, three days
later, took the race lead after some very aggressive riding on the Cote
de Cieutat. While he lost the yellow jersey the next day to the Banesto
tag team of David Latasa and Unai Osa (the eventual winner, who'd also
taken the Classique Des Alpes in May), he was the best of the rest in
third, 3:06 down. Combined with Clinger's good stage performances -
he made the top ten on four occasions, the Mercury team placed third
on team GC, and gained a new level of respect from the European pros.
Speaking of respect, while the Tour de l'Avenir was going on, Gord
Fraser was garnering some of his own. When Euro-teams such as Mapei,
Vini Caldirola, and La Francaise Des Jeux came to North America in September
to contest the ten-day Tour Trans-Canada, it was undoubtedly with the
intent of walking off with the lion's share of the stages. Unfortunately
for them, Fraser was on fire, winning five of the ten stages. He would
end the season with 27 victories which was unofficially the world's
highest. These September successes would set the stage for Wordin's
next move - to Europe for the 2000 season.
For the 2000 season, Mercury is planning an ambitious campaign that
will hopefully include, in addition to a full docket of North American
races, such events as Paris-Nice, several spring classics, the Tour
of Switzerland and perhaps, September's Tour of Spain. With that in
mind, John Wordin has added several new riders, as well as one familiar
face: Chris Horner. Back from three seasons in Europe, Horner is excited
to be racing in Europe with a U.S. team ("This team speaks my language!").
He will be joined by Jan Bratkowski, a double stage winner in this year's
Tour of Luxembourg; Swiss neo-pro Steve Zampieri; and, best of all,
highly-touted Henk Vogels. Vogels, who passed on offers from such teams
as Rabobank and Credit Agricole, will be looked to as the team's big
gun in races like the one that has always eluded them, the First Union
U.S. Pro Championship in Philadelphia. Vogels is equally enthused about
his new team: "John has done a great job bringing this program along.
I feel that the Tour (de France) is in our future."
The one negative about the upcoming season is the loss of David Clinger,
who got "an offer he couldn't refuse" from Festina. Wordin was sorry
to see him go, but not bitter: "We have known each other since he was
15, I think he should have stayed, but he wanted to go. He left on good
terms." Whether he'll return at some point, like Chris Horner remains
to be seen, but Wordin has almost always gotten that sort of loyalty
from his riders. Of that 1993 Lite Beer team, all five members are with
the Mercury team, which says a lot about the way Wordin treats his riders:
"I treat them the way I would like to be treated if I were a rider.
Since I do ride, I keep close to what's important to them."
He also keeps close to what's important for the future, as he has
continued his long-standing support for young racers by setting up Mercury
junior and under-23 racing teams. The goal is to have riders start with
the junior team, and then work their way up through the ranks: "Now
that Mercury is involved, they see the importance of developing riders."
He projects first year senior Will Frischkorn as being the first one
to work his way up through the new system. He won't be the last though
because, even as John Wordin and the Mercury Cycling Team are looking
into the near future at a possible Tour de France start, they're also
looking further ahead at developing the riders that may someday win
the Tour.
2000 Mercury Professional Roster
Derek Bouchard-Hall 2000 Mercury Under-23 Amateur Team Will Frischkorn 2000 Mercury-Fuji Junior Team Rahsaan Bahati Team Sponsors Athletes Village.com |
