Published June 17, 2009 04:46PM
The legendary green and white of the Dresdner Kleinwort Triathlon Team has been replaced by the yellow of Commerzbank. It’s the same great team, with a new look and new a title sponsor. With the merger of Commerzbank and Dresdner Kleinwort Bank now complete, Commerzbank has committed to continuing the team as Commerzbank Triathlon Team until 2011.
The team is lead by Normann Stadler and will also include Marino Vanhoenacker, Maik Twelsiek, Jan Raphael, Scott Neyedli, Markus Fachbach, Matthias Hecht and Timo Bracht.
The athletes will compete on both the Scott Plasma2 triathlon bike, the fastest bike at the 2008 Ironman WC in Kona, Hawaii, and in the Makani Running shoes.
The team has already begun competing under the new name and in the new colors. This past weekend team leader Normann Stadler won the Maxdorf Triathlon in Germany. With a big smile on his face, the new father joked, “Since my child was born last week, the sleep deficit turned into lots of energy.”
“Scott Bicycles has tremendous momentum right now in Triathlon, so we decided to step up and support the entire Commerzbank team to give us more global presence in the sport,” commented Adrian Montgomery. “The team image is very good, and all of their athletes are now qualified for the big show in Kona so we couldn’t be happier with the program and look forward to the World Championships in October where they can show their stuff.”
Elsewhere in Germany, team member Maik Twelsiek won the Bonn Triathlon, four minutes ahead of second place, Faris Al-Sultan. This latest victory means that all of the Commerzbank athletes are now qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, October 10th, 2009.
The next challenges for Team Commerzbank will come at the Ironman at Roth and the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt, Germany. Keep your eyes on the yellow flash of Team Commerzbank!