The Athertons announce new sponsors for 2011

Today saw Commencal reveal their new team partners and plans for the 2011 season. Added to the team's main partners of Animal clothing, Fox Racing Shox and Shimano components is the Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport van. The Vito Sport is the perfect van for any mountain biker or outdoor enthusiast making it a perfect match to the Atherton Family. The team has also forged a partnership with the Italian bike Mecca, Alpi Bike Resort. Just 45 minutes from Turin airport and with a variety of riding means the team has a great base between European rounds of the World Cup. The family will be working with the resort throughout the summer to help and develop the region. The Athertons rolled out the new Commencal Supreme V3 with a few new additions for the 2011 season. Having worked with Continental tyres for two seasons on development the team showed off the latest addition, which they referred to as the 'Rammstein Project' a dry tyre that incorporates the Black Chilli compound and the quality of a hand built German built tyre. Working alongside the Continental tyres the Athertons will be using Stans No Tubes tubeless solution in a bid to save those ever important, tenths of a second. Also new on the bike is headsets and Tiramic cartridge bearings from Token, these trick and lightweight components help keep the Supremes weight a cool 2llbs lighter than 2010. To give an added edge on the race track the team also adds Contour to the roster, the cutting edge GPS head cameras allow the Athertons to learn the track while sat in their hotel rooms. Rachel also announced her plans to skip South Africa in a bid to ensure she is 100% fit for the rest of the season. With a host of tracks on the calendar that Rachel hasn't ridden before she is raring to get going this year and will return for Fort William along with brother Dan. Gee will be looking to start the World Cup season off in style down in South Africa in 2 weeks time but before then he will tackle the British Downhill Series on home turf at Moelfre, Wales just 4 miles from the Athertons home. You will be able to keep up with all that is Atherton on the 'Atherton Project', a bi-weekly reality online series starting on the 27th May. www.athertonracing.co.uk