Last week High Road Sports announced that the team was disbanding. Team manager Bob Stapleton noted that Team HTC-Highroad would dissolve at the end of the 2011 season after a failure to find a new sponsor. Title sponsor HTC’s contract had ended.

We at KineticShift are sad to see the team break up, but it has been an interesting ride for High Road, but also for the partnership between mobile phone makers and carriers and professional cycling. HTC is just one example, and from 1991-2003 was actually Team Telekom, after the Deutsche Telekom. From 2004-2007 it was T-Mobile-Team, and then after a period of non-phone sponsorship it called up HTC in 2009 when it first became Team Columbia-HTC followed by Team HTC-Columbia before this year’s HTC-Highroad.

Nor is this the only team with a phone company in its history, as the old American 7-Eleven Team, the first major pro cycling team, became Motorola in 1991 and lasted until 1996. It should be added that it was during the Motorola era that professional cycling first saw the use of two-way radios – built by Motorola of course – between riders and the team cars. Lance Armstrong, who rode for Motorola before joining U.S. Postal Service – later U.S. Postal Service-Discovery Channel and then just Discovery Channel – used race radios during his seven straight wins at the Tour de France. Today nearly everyone uses the race radios, just one influence that mobile phones have had on the sport of cycling.

HTC, which followed T-Mobile, isn’t the first former mobile phone sponsor either. Bouygues Telecom had sponsored a team from 2005-2008, and then in the 2009 and 2010 seasons as Bbox Bouygues Telecom. This team today lives on as Team Europcar, surviving where High Road was unable to do so.

But even with the loss of HTC and Bbox Bouygues Telecom, mobile phones and carriers will continue to play a role in cycling. The Basque cycling team Euskaltel-Euskadi entered the pro arena in 2005, after previously being in the Division I and Pro Tour categories.

Serious athletes are often considered the elite. But does the Elite Corsa water bottle, which is used by professional cycling teams including LiquiGas and HTC during major races including the Tour de France,  have what it takes to stand up to the true elite? And does it have what it takes for those who tend to use the bottles over a season instead of tossing them to the road after a single use? Here is what we found.

Elite’s Product Description: Soft squeezable construction; New triple- function cap with soft push-pull nozzle is easy on the mouth and  delivers fluid fast; Easy to grip bottle with ergonomic shape; wide mouth opening for easy filling and cleaning; dishwasher safe and BPA- free; 550ml liquid capacity

Bottle Sizes: 550ml (approximately 22oz). The Super Corsa is available in 750ml
Plastic: Polyethylene
Country of Manufacture: Croatia
Retail Price: $7.00 (est.)

Basic Standards (Two from Interbike were tested):

1. One bottle did leak badly when filled with water and squeezed (the other bottle was fine)
2.  One bottle did leak badly when filled with water and turn upside down (the other bottle was fine)
3.  BPA free

Taste test and manufacturer’s claim test: Elite is the official sponsor of many of the Tour de France cycling teams including LiquiGas and HTC so there were high expectations for this bottle. The first disappointment arose when one of the test bottles had a major leak between the bottle and cap, but the other bottle worked fine so that one was used for further testing. After the initial rinse, the water did taste fine with no lingering plastic taste or smell. The bite valve was soft rubber which allowed for easy removal during cleaning, but there was a bit of resistance when using your teeth to open the bite valve. It was actually a little too small and soft, and during opening the valve would slip out of the teeth gripping the valve. This was one bottle that Accelerade was used during testing to evaluate the easy cleaning claim. The bottle did easily rinse out using water, but still required the use of a bottle brush to clean the tight areas. The bottle brush worked fine and after final cleaning there was hardly any residual smell in the bottle. Overall, there really seemed to be no advancement over the classic Specialized bottle and the bite valve was actually harder to use.

Likes: Bite valve is removable for cleaning

Dislikes: The bite valve was too small and there was too much resistance when pulling the bite valve open

Kinetic Shift Recommended Use: We actually recommend using the classic Specialized bottle over the Elite Corsa. There were really no features that warranted changing from the classic.

Elite Official Website

You can also see the individual rider’s power, speed, cadence and heart rate data. About the only thing you can’t see is who is going to be the new lead out man for Mark Cavendish.

[Via ZDNet] 

Follow Mark Cavendish and the rest of Team HTC-Columbia throughout the Tour de France

This year fans of the Tour de France will be able to follow the HTC-Columbia riders in real time, thanks to a new technology and marketing collaboration with Google Inc. High Road Sports announced that will work with the Internet search engine giant, along with team sponsors HTC and SRM to provide data from the HTC-Columbia riders during this year’s tour.

This partnership won’t just let you see where the riders are on the course, but will give you details on track speed, heart rate of specific riders, power output and other data that is provided by the SRM power meter! So if you want to know how much power Mark Cavendish cranks out in a sprint, or the heart rate of Marco Pinotti in a time trial, you’ll be able to track it.

 Taiwan based HTC, which was the maker of the first Google Android powered mobile handset, worked closely with SRM, Google and High Road to develop the HTC Legend smartphone. These will collect real time racing and location information, which in turn can be transmitted wirelessly to Google’s own servers. The phones will run Google’s mobile application “My Tracks,” which can read the racing data directly from the SRM sensors on the HTC-Columbia rider’s bikes. 

And when Cavendish makes his famous “phone gesture” while crossing the finish line we’ll have to wonder if he’s thinking make a call with Skype. HTC-Columbia has also signed a deal with the global telecommunications service, and the Skype logo will make a debut on the jerseys as they ride through France.

High Road Sports: Team HTC-Columbia

Check back throughout the Tour de France for the news and updates on latest technological advances in the world of cycling.

This was the 12 annual Tour Down Under, which ran from January 17 to 24, and it was won by Germany’s Andre Greipel (only the second ride to win this race twice) who races for the American HTC-Columbia team, the most winning team in cycling. HTC by the way is the Taiwanese-based mobile phone company that made the first “Google Android Phone,” the G1 for T-Mobile (itself a German company). HTC has a three year sponsorship deal with owners Team High Road. And actually the HTC-Columbia team had formerly been the T-Mobile Team, but following some scandals we won’t bring up, the team switched nationality from German to American, after T-Mobile dropped its sponsorship! Confused? Maybe this is what makes cycling, and those high-tech sponsors, just all the more interesting to viewers.

And while Armstrong didn’t win, he wasn’t expected to do so. He’s just getting in shape for the big show in France!