Los Angeles – A poll on Bicycling.com reveals Rock Racing has quickly pulled
away from
the pack to become the most popular team in pro cycling.

Nearly 60 percent of the respondents (9,500+) voted for Rock Racing in response
to the
question, "What pro cycling team will you be rooting for this year?" More than
16,500
votes were cast through midday Monday in an unscientific poll posted on the
website of
Bicycling magazine.

Last month at the Amgen Tour of California, Rock Racing's booth at the health
and fitness
expo was consistently packed with fans clamoring for autographs and team
merchandise.
The team's official website, rockracing.com, also received more than 6.8 million
hits
during the eight-day race.

Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said those facts and figures – combined with
the
results of Bicycling Magazine's poll – leave him wondering if fans are being
shortchanged
by the team's exclusion from the Tour de Georgia next month.

"I set out to create a cycling team that fans could root for and be a part of
that was unlike
any other pro team," Ball said. "It's unfortunate that fans will not have the
opportunity to
cheer on the riders and team they enjoy the most."

High Road Sports was second in the voting with 19 percent, followed by Team
Slipstream-
Chipotle presented by H30 with 12 percent. Astana, the team with 2007 Tour de
France
winner Alberto Contador and current U.S. national road race champion Levi
Leipheimer,
garnered seven percent of the vote. None of the other four teams in the poll had
more
than two percent.

Cycling fans in Southern California will be able to see the Rock Racing team in
action later
this week at the San Dimas Stage Race, March 28-30, and again at the Redlands
Bicycle
Classic, April 3-6.

— RRC —