This crossed my email inbox today:

CONTENDER BICYCLES TO HOST IN-STORE SIGNING WITH CYCLING STARS TYLER HAMILTON AND FREDDIE RODRIGUEZ OF ROCK RACING

Contender Bicycles will be hosting an in-store signing with Tyler Hamilton and Fred Rodriguez of Rock Racing on Saturday, August 16 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to meet and receive autographs from two of the most famous names in cycling today. There will also be official Rock Racing apparel for sale.

Founded by Rock & Republic fashion mogul Michael Ball in 2007, Rock Racing has made a name for themselves both from incredible success on the bike and from their flamboyant flair. The team has rapidly become a fan favorite after signing some of the sport’s most established names including 2004 Olympic gold time trial medalist and Tour de France stage winner Tyler Hamilton and three-time USPRO road race champion and Giro d’Italia stage winner Freddie Rodriguez. Rock Racing has redefined the look of the pro cycling team uniform and in April 2008, the squad was voted the most popular team in professional cycling in an on-line poll by Bicycling Magazine.

WHEN:

Saturday, August 16 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

WHERE:

Contender Bicycles
875 East 900 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
801.364.0344

Come meet the riders, check out the cars and experience the flair!

1. It’s an event at a bike shop, during the Tour of Utah. Why the fuck would I want to “check out the cars?”
2. Shouldn’t Tyler and Freddie be resting up to prepare for the next day’s time trial, instead of schmoozing a bunch of fanboys?
3. What does it do for Contender’s image to associate themselves with a team that seems to have a lax (or at least very forgiving) view on doping?
4. Flair? Do they have all 15 pieces?

VeloNews | Rock Racing launches fund to help injured bike racers.

Michael Ball, owner of the Rock Racing team, says he and his companies will contribute “hundreds of thousands” of dollars to launch a fund to help elite racers who seriously injured while racing.

“Let’s do the right thing for these guys,” Ball told VeloNews.

Ball urged other teams and bicycle industry members to contribute to the Professional Cycling Catastrophic Injury Fund, which will be managed by an independent board. The team will contribute 10 percent of the sales of Rock Racing merchandise to the fund. The entire proceeds from sales of several new items — to be sold on the team’s Web site and at events — will go to the fund.

Ball said he was inspired to launch the fund by the plight of Mexican racer Fausto Esparza, who was partially paralyzed after a downhill crash at New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila this spring.

“That’s what really made me think about this,” he said. “Here’s a perfect example of a guy who has dedicated his life to the sport and now he’s in a tough spot,” he said.

Esparza, who spent several weeks at the hospital in El Paso, Texas, following the crash, has been moved to a facility in Mexico City, according to a source familiar with his situation. A call to a family member on Sunday was not immediately returned.

Ball said his goal is to raise $20 million over the next two years. The initial donation will come from the team, his Rock & Republic clothing company and himself personally. He said the fund will make donations to elite amateurs and professionals who are injured during a race. The fund’s board of directors will decide on a case-by-case basis who qualifies and how much support should be given.

If he hopes to raise $20,000,000, I certainly hope that he and Rock & Republic will be contributing more than just “hundreds of thousands” … thousands of thousands would be better. And I really hope that this is not another case of Ball talking out of his ass, and that he actually does something this time.

Michael Ball just might not be a total dick … but I’m still going to reserve judgment until everything is in place, and the fund completely established (and independent).

From Velonews: Rock Racing sues to get into Tour de Georgia

Rock Racing is suing the Tour de Georgia’s owner and its organizing company, asking to be let into the race that starts April 21.

The team’s owner, Rock Racing LLC, filed a complaint April 8 asking for an injunction against the race’s owner — the Tour de Georgia Foundation, and its organizer, Medalist Sports, court records show.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday in superior court in Fulton County, Georgia.

Rock Racing spokeswoman Martine Charles said the team had an “oral agreement” with Medalist Sports to participate in the race.

“It was revoked at the last minute. We’re pursuing legal alternatives,” she said.

Last month, Medalist’s Jim Birrell told VeloNews that Rock Racing was not invited to the race simply because there is not enough room for the team.

“There are a finite number of slots we’re interested in filling, and it’s hard, there are too many qualified teams to extend invites to, and not enough slots,” Birrell said.

Has a lawsuit ever helped anything in professional cycling, except draining the coffers of the team?

At least the Amgen Tour of California was honest about why it was excluding various members of the (Crack) Rock Racing team … doping allegations, and open investigations into Operación Puerto.

Medalist’s story seems unlikely, but convenient. Rock Racing is bad for cycling … even for the clean riders on the team (and I’m sure the vast majority are), the bad boy image doesn’t help. And the Escalades and podium girls just make it all about image; not about the sport.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, how soon the implosion for the Rock?

From VeloNews:

Prior to the Amgen Tour of California Ball very publicly came to loggerheads with AEG Sports president Andrew Messick over the decision to keep his riders from starting the race, based on the UCI’s definition of what constitutes an “open doping investigation.”

At the conclusion of the Amgen tour Birrell made it clear he felt that Ball’s public struggle with AEG, combined with the team’s traveling entourage — including four podium-girl models, a four-person PR firm, fashion photographers, a dozen-man film crew shooting a documentary and Ball’s driver/bodyguard — had overshadowed the race.

“I like all the riders he has on his team — it’s just that renegade approach and his desire to steal the limelight away from the platform that has been created for everybody else is what troubles me,” Birrell told VeloNews in California. “Right now, for Georgia, Colorado and Missouri, I just don’t know if there is a fit for that team at those stage races. We still haven’t finalized those rosters, but I don’t know if they are under consideration or not.”

I find it so ironic that a person who is trying to help define style in the fashion world is finding that style to be to his team’s detriment. Rock Racing would stand a much better chance of survival as a team if Michael Ball stepped back completely and left the running of the team to someone who is not in it to pimp his own image.

VeloNews | No Rock Racing for Tour de Georgia

Organizers on Thursday announced the 15, 8-rider teams that will compete in next month’s Tour de Georgia.

A total of 120 professional cyclists will compete in the 600-mile, seven-day event to be held April 21-27.

The final field:

• Astana
• CSC
• Gerolsteiner
• High Road
• Saunier Duval-Scott
• BMC
• Slipstream-Chipotle
• Symmetrics
• Bissell
• GE-Marco Polo
• Health Net-Maxxis
• Jelly Belly
• Jittery Joe’s
• Team Type 1
• Toyota-United

“This is not only the most international field we have had at Georgia, but one of the most elite as well. Usually you only see names like Hincapie, Zabriskie, Leipheimer and Millar at the Grand Tours. Now you will see them at the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T. We have many teams from across the U.S. and Europe that we just could not accommodate,” said Jim Birrell, managing partner of Medalist Sports and race director for the Tour de Georgia.

So Michael Ball, and his (Crack) Rock Racing Team don’t get a ride in Georgia … getting closer and closer to my predicted implosion every day.

No Tyler Hamilton, no Santiago Botero, and no Oscar Sevilla. Instead, these riders get to line up and race major races like the Los Angeles Circuit Race, against such well-known, top-level pros like Mark-Paul Gosselaar (of TV’s Saved By The Bell fame), as Tyler Hamilton did this past weekend.

Gosselaar finished 7th, by the way, which is not a knock on his ability to race a bicycle, but he’s certainly not on the level of guys coming out of Utah like T-Bird or Jeff Louder, much less Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, or any of the Euro-Pros.

Another crack in (Crack) Rock Racing’s armor? Or just Cipollini being Cipollini?

VeloNews | No more Rock, no more rolling for Cipollini

Mario Cipollini’s relationship with the American team Rock Racing has ended, and the Italian is quashing rumors that he might jump into this weekend’s Milan-San Remo for a different team.

“Unfortunately I’ve had to end my relationship with the American Rock Racing team that started a few months ago,” the former world champion said Tuesday.

European papers had speculated that Cipollini would join the Tinkoff Credit Systems team for Milan-San Remo, but he said he was only interested in joining a team if he could be involved with its management and development.

“The idea of riding Milan-San Remo made sense if it was linked to a wider project of building and managing a new team and my return to racing was part of the project to create a dream team. Despite a contract, this hasn’t happened for reasons out of my control.”

Only 33 days until the Tour de Georgia starts … wonder if that race’s promoters will let Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero, and/or Oscar Sevilla race, or if they’re going to be stuck on the sidelines again. I’m still predicting a team implosion …

Sager puts Rock Racing to good use.

The last picture in the series is classic.