Mission Statement

Our mission is to promote and support all aspects of cycling.

Who we are

CyCor Sports, LLC (‘CyCor’) is a cycling organization based in Richmond, Virginia. Felix Garcia, Sidney Gunst and Tom Bowden founded CyCor in 1994. Its first team, Team CyCor, began competing in the pro-am cycling circuit in 1995. One of CyCor’s goals was to promote youth and local participation. With respect to that, we worked directly with Lee Piper who founded and managed one the nation’s finest junior cycling programs, the Signet Cycling Team. Team Signet team was led by Carlton Stadler and Erik Saunders. Other Team Signet cyclists that joined CyCor were Wes Siegler, Tim Powell and Tom Doyle, one of their senior mentors. Other local high caliber cyclists that were recruited were Theron “TC’ Colucci, James Schaefer, and Kirby Newman from Team HDK. Also, Jon Hamblen of Team Snow Valley. We also brought in Dr. Sergie Beliave from the Moscow Sports Institute as our head coach. This first-year team earned unusual distinction with strong showings in some of the country’s top races, accomplished by the signing of the Ukrainian National Team. Team CyCor finished the season as the country’s number one ranked pro-am team..

Professional cycling history

In 1996 CyCor entered the ranks of professional cycling. Our title sponsor was the Richbrau Brewing Company. Richbrau’s new ownership positioned the company as a retail distributing micro-brewery. They defined their target markets as Mid-Atlantic and Southeast markets. One of their key marketing strategies was sponsoring a professional cycling team.

In 1997 we ramped-up the program by signing Kevin Monahan – a former US National Junior Champion who was racing for the Team MAPEI in Italy, Jerzy Wozniak – a member of the Poland Olympic Team, Dirk Friel from Team Motorola, and Jeff Corbett from Team Chevrolet-LA Sheriffs. Later, Tim Miller came aboard as our team manager. In its first year of competing in professional peloton, Team Richbrau captured over 30 podium appearances including 15 first place finishes while competing against national and international teams with much larger budgets. Other notable highlights included as the sole American-based team to race in Italy’s famous Giro D’Abruzzo and Richmond, Virginia as the only US city to send three qualifiers to the 1997 USA National Team Selection Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with all three cyclists from CyCor.

Redefining CyCor

By 1998 Richbrau started distributing its beer throughout Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast with success. It was satisfied that it has achieved it objectives with the Richbrau professional cycling team. At that point CyCor had to redefine itself. Does it continue to field a professional cycling team with another sponsor? The answer was to change its emphasis to an amateur masters and off-road cycling programs. Richbrau again came aboard as its title sponsor in 1998. In 1999, when Conte’s Bicycles & Fitness Equipment entered the Richmond market it took over as CyCor’s title sponsor. Like Richbrau, Conte’s wanted to use CyCor to enhance its name in Richmond. CyCor’s program grew to over 100 racers (road & mtb). Its particular emphasis was on masters racing. Results wise it has been extraordinary. In 2008 USA’s leading Italian specialty meats producer, Fiorucci Foods, signed on as a title sponsor. Their marketing strategy is to utilize the team to help them launch a new product called Rostello.

CyCor had over 100 podium appearances. Individual accolades included:

• Tom Doyle winning the 2008 XTERRA Off-Road National Championship.
• Tom Doyle winning another national championship, the 2009 National Senior Games Road Championships.
• Tom Doyle winning the Virginia State Criterium Championship, Virginia State Road Race Championship, and Virginia State Time Trial Championship in the 50+ category. He was the B.A.R. and Omnium Champion.
• Mark Livick winning the Virginia State Criterium Championship in the 45+ category.
• Eneas Freyre winning the Virginia State Road Championship in the Cat. 4 category.
• Adam Myers winning the Subaru Mid Atlantic Mountain Bike Points Series in the Expert category.
• Kristin Wilson winning the Subaru Mid Atlantic Mountain Bike Points Series in the Women Expert category.
• Dennis Rainear was the 2002 B.A.R. and Omnium Champion in the 50+ category including gold medals in Virginia State Road Race Championship and Virginia State Criterium Championship.
• Sam Perry won the 2002 Fall Series Subaru Mid Atlantic Mountain Bike Points Series for sport category.
• Scott Strife won the 2002 Subaru Mid Atlantic Mountain Bike Points Series in the Enduro category.
• Karen Hanson winning the 2009 Virginia Cycling Association BAR 40+ Category.
• Sharon Leary winning the 2009 40+ Track State Championship.
• Kristin Schaefer winning the 2009 Virginia Cycling Association BAR Women’s Juniors Category.
• We are proud to say that our Kevin Monahan later won the USPRO National Criterium Championships two years in a row while riding for Seven-Up team that was managed by our Jeff Corbett. This team is now known as the Health Net team still under the direction of Jeff Corbett. Our Jon Hamblen won the VeloNews Elite Rider of the Year. Our Tim Miller was running CapTech Classic. Our Erik Saunders went to race successfully in Europe and was one of the mainstays of the US professional cycling peloton along with our Eneas Freyre. Now Erik is the director of Time Pro Team.

Nationally and internationally, Dan Nicholson won his third consecutive ICP World Cycling Road Championship in Germany. In the process, Dan set the world record for one kilometer on the track. He is also a two-time Paralympics Road Cycling GOLD medalists winning in Sydney Olympics and Atlanta Olympics. Sports Illustrated and other media covered Dan’s feats extensively in Germany. In 2000 he was a Korbel Night of Champions where Olympians visited the White House. In 1999 he was Grand Marshall of The Mayor’s Tour De Richmond, VA bike parade. In the Athens Olympics Dan brought home a BRONZE.

Today

We are redefining CyCor again in order to handle our growth. We have now exceeded over 300 members since our inception. CyCor was divided into Women’s Program, Men’s Program, and CyCor Club Program.