Chris Jones will return to ride for Team Type 1 for the 2009 season while the second-year professional squad is also adding the stars-and-stripes jersey of U.S. Elite Criterium Champion Ken Hanson to its roster.
Jones, 29, scored his second straight top 10 finish at the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championship after winning the Patterson Pass Road Race earlier in August. The Redding, Calif., native also played a key role at the Vuelta Mexico and the Tour of Arkansas, both of which were won by Team Type 1’s Glen Chadwick.
“Chris was a valuable teammate and one of the most consistent performers on the team in 2008, and we are hoping that in 2009 he will have the opportunity to step up to a leadership role when the time is right,” Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said.
Chris Jones.
Hanson, 26, won the USA Cycling Double Tree Guest Suites Elite Men's National Criterium Championship at Downers Grove, Ill., in August to begin a string of impressive victories that included the San Ardo (Calif.) Road Race and the Priority Health Ann Arbor Cycling Classic in Michigan in September. The San Luis Obispo, Calif., native has also won on the international level, having captured the first stage of the FBD Insurance RÁS in Ireland in May and being a part of the winning team time trial squad last year at the 45th Giro del Friuli Venezia Giulia.
“Ken has shown he can close the deal with victories in races like the RAS and Priority Health, and his win at the Elite National Championships validates his ability to produce under pressure,” Beamon said.
Team Type 1 won 43 races and recorded 95 podium finishes in 2008 while capturing team titles at the Tour de Beauce and the Vuelta Mexico. Those results, Jones said, were secondary to helping the team spread its mission and message of inspiration to people living with diabetes.
“We had a solid, cohesive core of the team this season and I expect that with the new additions to the roster we will solidify our place in 2009 as one of the top teams in America,” he said. “The more the team wins, the more awareness it will bring to the global diabetes epidemic, and that is ultimately the goal of the team.”
The addition of Hanson, Beamon said, will give Team Type 1 more depth in the speed department. Last week, the team signed accomplished Argentinian sprinter Ricardo Escuela.
“We are trying to build a sprinting package and not focus our attention on one or two riders,” Beamon said. “I expect Ken’s role in the lead-out train will change depending on the event, conditions and the lineup, but I am confident he has the ability to be set up guy in the run in, deliver the last push or win the race depending on the situation.”
