American Team RadioShack has looked to Europe to fuel its riders during the 2010 season after signing a sponsorship deal with UK/Switzerland-based sports nutrition supplier ZipVit Sport.

The deal will see ZipVit Sport supply Team RadioShack - featuring 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden - with energy bars, gels and recovery drinks from its Project ZV sports nutrition range, as well as health supplements during the whole season.

According to a ZipVit spokesperson, the sponsorship deal was concluded after Team RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel contacted ZipVit Sport CEO Warren Bailey personally to ask him to supply the team.

ZipVit Sport only launched the ZV range in 2008, but it has left no stone unturned to ensure that the products are the most scientifically advanced on the market and the recent development of the range has allowed the company to base the product contents on results of the latest ground-breaking scientific studies.

Designed to improve professional athletes' performance and aid their recovery, the ZV range contains only the finest quality raw ingredients and includes colostrum in its recovery products, which helps athletes to build and repair lean muscle as well as protecting them against infection - very useful during stage races such as the Tour de France.

The products, which are designed to be tasty and easily digested, also include whey protein, glutamine, beta-alanine and branched chain amino acids. The bars are much easier to consume while riding than bars from Science in Sport and High Five, but unfortunately some versions feature a chocolate coating, which appears unnecessary and which is obviously not pleasing for people who are allergic to chocolate.

Team RadioShack is the second pro peloton team to be supplied by ZipVit Sport this season. Cervélo TestTeam already signed a deal with ZipVit earlier this year.

Bailey revealed that Bruyneel called him in September last year, months before Team RadioShack's official launch.

Bailey stated that "It was clear that Johan wanted only the very best products for his team and he spoke very highly of what we had achieved with our Project ZV range in such a short time."

"ZipVit Sport is right at the cutting edge of nutritional science and we are very excited that Team RadioShack will be using our products this season. The eyes of the world will be on them and, together with Cervelo TestTeam, they are set for great success in 2010. It will be great to be a part of that."

ZipVit Sport uses only natural flavourings and colours and, like other leading suppliers of energy supplements, also works hard to ensure that its bars and drinks are clean from even the minutest traces of drugs.

It has teamed up with an anti-doping lab, which is experienced in working with the World Anti-Doping Agency framework and tests each batch of finished product for every stimulant and steroid on the WADA's banned list, giving drug-tested athletes peace of mind.

Team RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel said "Nutrition is becoming an increasingly important aspect within elite endurance sport and it was clear to me that ZipVit Sport's range is built on an excellent understanding of the science behind increasing athletes' energy levels and optimising their recovery times. Both of these will prove to be crucial as the season progresses, which is why, following my conversation with Warren, I am delighted that ZipVit Sport has agreed to supply Team RadioShack for 2010." Lance Armstrong and his coach Chris Carmichael have both further increased their focus on nutrition in recent years hoping to find the right foods that will give Armstrong an extra advantage over competing riders and champions. Carmichael has developed a unique and innovative nutrition periodization program which supports and enables active, healthy, and high-energy lifestyles.

For more information on ZipVit Sport's Project ZV range of sports nutrition products, visit www.zipvitsport.com. Also, be sure to sign up for your own training and nutrition log at www.roadcycling.com/diary . Use our innovative training log service to your advantage this season.