Clement, the brand that brought you the original Grifo cyclocross tire, is making its return to U.S. soil with this season under Donn Kellogg, formerly of Challenge USA. Kellogg plans to bring a slew of cyclocross and road tires to the market starting this fall, and one of his first tires will be a nylon thread-based cyclocross clincher.
Clement has thrown its support behind CrossVegas and will be its coming out party to celebrate the return of the storied brand.
The initial cyclocross tire planned is a tire designed to excel in the mud. It’s expected to be due out sometime in October, and you can be sure Cyclocross Magazine will have the first preview at Interbike.
Clement is also sponsoring some prominent U.S. cyclocross racers by supporting the Kona team as well as Amy Dombroski of Richard Sachs. While its widely known that these racers use tubulars, they’ll likely be riding early versions of the Clement tread on a tubular casing while Clement looks to expand its product line to tubulars.
Official press release below of Cross Vegas sponsorship:
CLEMENTTM Teams Up With CrossVegas
Official Tire Sponsor Offers Special Promotion for Ticket Holders
Legendary Italian tire brand CLEMENTTM is returning to the bicycle industry and has selected CrossVegas as it very first move to publicize this return. CLEMENTTM will serve as the official tire sponsor of the biggest cyclocross race in the U.S. held each year in Las Vegas during the Interbike trade show.
As part of the sponsorship all CrossVegas general admission ticket holders receive a mail-in coupon valid for a pair of CLEMENTTM commemorative cycling socks.
The special sock offer was the idea of Donnelly Sports president Donn Kellogg, “I wanted everyone to get a chance to be part of the CLEMENTTM re-introduction to the bicycle market and we want to mark the occasion with a commemorative pair of cycling socks.”
CrossVegas promoter Brook Watts commented, “CLEMENT is the kind of iconic cycling brand you love to have sponsor your event. We’re honored to serve as a host for the brand’s reintroduction to the cyclocross market.”
With sponsorship of some of the top teams at CrossVegas including Kona, with the current US National Cyclocross Champion – Ryan Trebon and the current British Women’s Cyclocross Champion – Helen Wyman plus the Richard Sachs Professional Cyclocross Team with Amy Dombroski, the current U23 Women’s National Cyclocross Champion there’s a good chance Clement will finish the day with a podium place. “That would be icing on the cake to see a top finish, we’re so pleased to be associated with top athletes and top races like CrossVegas,” said Kellogg.
CrossVegas is the largest cyclocross race in the U.S. taking place Wednesday evening September 23 after the first day of the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas. Almost 10,000 fans converged on Desert Breeze Soccer Complex for the 2008 edition of the international race.
Complete information is available at www.crossvegas.com
Complete information about CLEMENTTM tires will be available soon at www.clementcycling.com
