The Giant–Australian Institute of Sport Cycling Team () was an Australian professional cycling team sponsored by the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS) and bicycle manufacturer Giant.

Heiko Salzwedel Heiko Salzwedel (16 April 1957 – 29 September 2021) was a German cycling coach and team manager. Coaching career Salzwedel was born in Schmalkalden. After moving from his native East Germany to Australia in 1990, he set up the Australian Ins ...

and Brian Stephens were early directeur sportifs. The fusion of the Giant-AIS and the Czech Husquarna team in 1997 extended its International profile, allowing to include foreign riders, such as Jens Voigt,

Jan Hruška Jan Hruška (born 4 February 1975) is a former professional road bicycle racer from the Czech Republic, who turned professional in 1996. Doping Hruška entered the 2000 Summer Olympics, but was removed after testing for a doping product. Major ...

, Tomáš Konečný. Consequently, the name of the team was changed to ZVVZ-Giant-AIS Cycling Team.

Sponsors

Australian Institute of Sport

The Australian Institute of Sport is the high-performance arm of the Government founded Australian Sports Commission. In 1990, the AIS extended their commitment to Cycling and started the AIS Road Cycling programme in Canberra under AIS Head Coach and Australian National Road Coach

. Initially, 12 cyclists have been offered scholarships, amongst them Patrick Jonker,

Grant Rice Grant Rice (born 14 May 1968) is an Australian former cyclist. He competed in two events at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially kn ...

, Darren Smith,

Robert McLachlan Robert McLachlan may refer to: * Robert McLachlan (cyclist) (born 1971), Australian cyclist * Robert McLachlan (cinematographer), Canadian cinematographer * Robert McLachlan (entomologist) (1837–1904), British entomologist * Robert Wallace McLa ...

, Robert Crowe, Jamie Kelly, Matt Bazzano and Jason Phillips. In 1993, the AIS programme in Canberra was expanding to include the MTB and the Women's Endurance programme. Cadel Evans was in the first group of mountain bikers and Olympic Gold medalist Kathy Watt being the most prominent riders of the Women's Endurance programme. Damian Grundy (MTB) and Andrew Logan (Women's Endurance) have been appointed as AIS and National Coaches.

Giant

The Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer began its international sponsorship activities in 1991 with the Australian Institute of Sport Cycling Team. Riders, such as Robbie McEwen, Patrick Jonker,

Henk Vogels Hendricus "Henk" Vogels (born 31 July 1973, in Perth) is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer who retired from competition at the end of the 2008 season, riding with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. He won the Australian na ...

, David McKenzie started their International cycling career at the

on GIANT bikes. When the Trade Team was founded in 1996, it became prime co-sponsor of the team bearing its name along with the Australian Institute of Sport.

Jayco

As a consequence of their long standing relationship with Cycling teams and races in Australia, the American/Australian manufacturer of caravans and motorhomes, based in Melbourne, provided the team with custom made motorhomes both in USA and in Australia.

ZVVZ

The financial support of Czech manufacturer of Airconditioning equipment enabled the Australian team to contract International riders, such as Jens Voigt,

, Tomáš Konečný and others.

Škoda

As a part of the Volkswagen Group, the Czech car manufacturer Škoda started their extensive and long time commitment towards cycling in 1997, providing the team with six of their then brand new model Škoda Octavia.

Team roster 1996

Team roster 1997

References

External links

* http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams1.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20110715150155/http://www.radsport-news.com/sport/teams_773_1996.php * https://web.archive.org/web/20110223031833/http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1997/ascmedia/#cyctop * http://www.cyclingarchives.com/ploegfiche.php?id=9772 {{DEFAULTSORT:Giant-Australian Institute of Sport Defunct cycling teams based in Australia Cycling teams based in Australia Cycling teams established in 1996 Cycling teams disestablished in 1998