While Chris Horner has grabbed all the headlines and been the focus of most of the talk surrounding the Airgas-Safeway team this year, his young teammates have been preparing for their own 2015 campaigns with the second-year Continental team that began as the D3devo development program.
The addition of Bart Bowen as a full-time director will provide two experienced hands to guide the young riders through this season, when they hope to transition from being satisfied with making the major breakaways to putting themselves on podiums at some of the big US races.
Luis Lemus, 22, has three years of experience on the Continental level after having raced with Jelly Belly-Maxxis since 2012, but the majority of the remaining riders on the team count last year with Airgas as their only pro experience. Nevertheless, Bowen said he was impressed with his team's performance at training camp earlier this month in California.
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“We've been doing some hard rides and these guys are right there, and they're fired up,” Bowen told Cyclingnews. “These guys aren't dying, they're like let's do some more, let's get to that next level. And I think even Chris is like, 'Wow, these guys are solid.' They just need to have confidence, they need to learn, they need to get that experience where they're making good decisions on the road and it's paying off.”
Griffin Easter, 23, and Justin Mauch, 20, are two riders hoping to benefit from the team's increased support and bolstered roster this year. Easter won USA Cycling's Collegiate Division 1 National Championship last year, while Mauch is part of the US under-23 development program. Both told Cyclingnews they're ready to step up with their team to the next level.
“[In 2013] I finished 4th on the last day of Cascade on Awbrey Butte,” Easter said. “I had attacked solo and I was coming into the last 250 meter turn when [Francisco] Mancebo and two Hincapie guys came around me. That was like the first time I kind of saw that, yeah, maybe I am one of the guys and I can stay here.”
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