I asked what the team’s inclusion in the Tour de Georgia would mean for Rock re: the Tour of Missouri.

“It really helps us in our bid to go into anything that Medalist Sports is doing. I think what happened in the Tour of California was really skewed. It was a very unique environment at the time. I was coming out and trying to build a brand and come out with the strongest domestic team, and we were hampered and I reacted to that. And for whatever reason, they proceeded in a certain way, so there was a certain real adversarial environment. The best that could have been expected is what happened. But now they’re going to see us in a different environment, different conditions. And they can see we’re there to make this thing great. I don’t think we’ll have too many problems being able to get into these races. I look forward to Missouri. Whether we have the team to do that at the time, I’m not sure. We’ll see. The problem is we’ve also been invited to the Tour of Mexico and the Tour of Great Britain as well. So we have some decisions to make as far as that’s concerned.”

FYI: Ball also announced a new sponsor, Yahama. He said it was the first time a motorcycle company will sponsor a bike racing team. “It’ll be pretty cool. You’ll see a lot of Yamaha products around.”

Including at the TdG.

That’s it. All I’ve got. Ol’ 10 Speed will be back with more clarity later.