As one of four U.S. Continental teams at Amgen Tour of California, Team Exergy added a little glitz to gain some extra attention in their biggest race of the season. In honor of the trip down the Golden State, Team Exergy’s sponsors stepped up to provide their bikes with a bit of bling for the race. Team co-owner Remi McManus said, “We wanted to do something cool for the race; and since it’s the Golden State, and our golden opportunity, since it’s the team's first Tour of California invite, what better than gold parts on our Felt bikes?"
Often, the Pro Tour teams cast a large shadow upon the U.S. Continental teams at Amgen Tour of California, which was a big factor on the team's decision to jump on the opportunity to stand out. “We put the idea out there to our sponsors to do custom gold parts for the race, and initially there wasn’t a lot of interest. Once we got one company on board though, they all jumped in and wanted to be part of it”, explained Remi.
As eye-catching as the team's gold adorned Felts look, it turns out that Team Exergy is leaving their mark on the race in terms of results as well. After only two stages, they’ve already landed 3rd and 5th place finishes by Freddy Rodriguez, in addition to Sam Johnson powering the Stage 1 breakaway.
Vision and Felt provided gold decals for the wheels and the frame. Team Exergy was a little conservative on the wheel graphics; with 90mm of rim surface available they could have really gone big.
MicroShift took care of their premier North American team with new shifters and derailleurs in gold. FSA tricked out the front-end with the bar tape and color-coordinated headset spacers.
Most people have never even seen a MicroShift derailleur, now you’ve seen a gold one.
Fred Rodriguez brings the big meat when it comes to chainrings. A 54-tooth carbon Vision time trial chainring gave him the gear to grab a podium spot on Stage 1. K-Edge went gold with their chain catchers, which in our opinion are worth their weight in gold.
K-Edge came through with gold anodized stainless steel number holders. R790SL brake calipers with gold highlights handle the slowing of the Vision wheels.
Fizik was on board to share in the color-coordinating fun. Each rider received a Fizik saddle of their choice with a touch of gold.
Team Exergy also has some fun in store for the time trail. Remi showed us one of eight disc wheels that has a different mesmerizing graphic on each side that will be a smorgasbord of color at 30mph.
Fresh out of the box, KASK time trial helmets were a last minute delivery. Between the disc graphics and a new aero-lid, Columbian Carlos Alzate will be looking good regardless of how fast he goes.
Team Exergy has a lifetime supply of stem caps in all different colors. Maybe the pink ones are in the hopes of a Giro d’Italia start someday?