Chipotle rides onto bigger stage

Chain backs drug-free Slipstream cyclists

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Will Frischkorn, of the Slipstream-Chipotle cycling team, trains recently near Boulder. The locally based drug-free team will compete in the Tour de France.

Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Will Frischkorn rides past a frozen reservoir on a recent training ride. The Slipstream-Chipotle team is committed to a rigorous drug-testing program to restore integrity to a sport tainted by scandals. It was a good fit for Chipotle, which features drug-free meat on its menus.

Amid the boisterous patchwork of logos typical to most cycling race jerseys, the Slipstream-Chipotle uniform features a silkscreen of Chipotle's iconic foil-wrapped burritos peeking out of each rider's hip pocket.

Those burritos have been sparking amusing confusion among the team's largely European competitors pedaling just inches away in the peloton.

"Sometimes one will jokingly reach for it any say, 'I'm stealing your bread,' because they've never seen the burritos before," said Will Frischkorn, one of the riders with the Slipstream-Chipotle. "Hopefully in a few years, they'll know."

The Boulder-based cycling team's uniforms are about to become a much more familiar sight this July when Slipstream-Chipotle makes its Tour de France debut. The team is making its first appearance at cycling's pre-eminent event while voluntarily adopting one of the strictest anti-doping monitoring programs in the sport.

For co-sponsor Chipotle Mexican Grill, which prides itself on using only hormone- and antibiotic-free meat, the marketing deal gives the restaurant chain a vehicle to take its additive-free ethos to the world stage.

"This is a team that's very vigorous about their drug testing and keeping their bodies clean, and that's very much our philosophy," said Jim Adams, Chipotle's executive marketing director.

Chipotle increased its support from minor sponsor to a commitment as co-title sponsor late last year, at a time when many longtime backers were fleeing the sport following a string of doping scandals. T-Mobile withdrew financial sponsorship last season after some two decades underwriting top-tier racers, shortly after the Discovery Channel ended its funding of Lance Armstrong's former team. The Discovery Channel team - which was the continuation of the U.S. Postal Service team - won the Tour seven times.

With the dissolution of the Discovery team, Slipstream- Chipotle is in the running to be "America's Team" in this year's Tour de France. The only other U.S. team in the tour is Team High Road, the former T-Mobile team that's now owned by telecommunications executive Bob Stapleton.

More than half of Slipstream-Chipotle's 25 riders are Americans, and the staff is based out of a tidy Victorian house just off Boulder's Pearl Street Mall. The riders primarily train in Girona, Spain, although Boulder resident Frischkorn and other riders periodically return to the U.S. and can be seen climbing Boulder's foothill passes.

Chipotle's sponsorship of Slipstream started small, after team director Jonathan Vaughters approached Chipotle CEO and founder Steve Ells three years ago with the idea of spending around $10,000 to support the team.

Ells, an avid cyclist, quickly agreed, and soon the restaurant chain realized the benefits of being associated with what Adams calls "an extremely loyal, physically active" demographic.

Chipotle boosted its funding to co-sponsorship level last year, making it the largest sports marketing deal the restaurant has undertaken. Chipotle's Adams declined to discuss financial terms other than to say it is "significant."

Full title sponsorship - a notch higher than Chipotle's involvement - of a cycling team reportedly costs an average of $11.75 million.

Slipstream-Chipotle is one of at least four cycling teams that have stepped up efforts to go beyond the doping monitoring programs of the International Cycling Union. The team works with Agency for Cycling Ethics, which randomly tests each Slipstream-Chipotle cyclist every two weeks - 20 times more than required by the governing body.

Chipotle so far has limited its marketing of the team to ads in cycling magazines and rider store appearances along the Tour of California.

But the company expects to ramp up marketing efforts during the Tour de France, Adams said, including promotions to keep customers following the team.

Slipstream-Chipotle features Tour de France veterans Christian Vande Velde, David Millar and David Zabriskie along with Boulder riders such as Frisch korn and Timmy Duggan, who have come through its development squad.

Getting invited to the Tour de France "really means everything in a lot of ways," said Doug Ellis, who owns the Slipstream team.

But in keeping with the team's refusal to insist on winning at all costs, Ellis' definition of what would make a successful tour includes winning individual time trials, winning a single road stage or wearing the yellow jersey for a few days.

"There are a lot of ways we could become an emotional focus in the U.S., even if we aren't as successful as the Postal guys," he said.

davisj@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 954-2514

The Slipstream-Chipotle cycling team includes:

* Five national champions

* Two Tour de France yellow jersey wearers and a Tour de France polka-dot jersey wearer

* A former world champion

* A Paris-Roubaix winner

Riders with a Colorado ties

David Zabriskie, the only American to have won stages in all three Grand Tours.

Danny Pate, a Colorado Springs native known for instigating race-winning breakaways.

Will Frischkorn, a Boulder resident who came through Slipstream's development team.

Blake Caldwell, a Boulder native known for his climbs and time trials.

Timmy Duggan, also a Boulder native who is a member of two world championship teams.

And adding experience . . .

. . . is Christian Vande Velde, who rode support for Lance Armstrong twice during his Tour de France championship reign.