Jason Allen to join Rubicoin-ORBEA; Benefiting LIVESTRONG

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What stands 6 foot 5 and will be wearing bright yellow?  Jason Allen.  

Allen will join Omer Kem and Kiwi Aaron Tuckerman as one of the leaders of the young Rubicon Orbea; Benefiting LIVESTRONG squad.  He leaves for the US in late April and his first race is likely to the Tour of Gila.
 
Allen, like Kem and Tuckerman, has a lot of experience in the professional ranks with 10 national titles, a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games and five World Cup Medals for team and individual pursuits to his name.
 
"We are excited to have Jason on board for 2010, he brings a great deal of experience which the young guys can learn from," said Team Director Norrene Godfrey.
 
It won't be the first time Allen has raced in the same team as his Rubicon Orbea teammates. Allen was part of the 4-man New Zealand squad sent to Singapore to race the OCBC Cycle Singapore Criterium earlier this month.  
 
In that race Patrick Bevin was 6th and Mike Northey was instrumental in the lead-out.  Roman Van Uden is the other young Kiwi on the Rubicon Orbea team.
 
"I'm really stoked, the team is really well set up and run, and the races they do are awesome so I can't wait to get over there," Allen told RoadCycling.co.nz.  He's sad to be leaving his partner and two dogs, but knows he has their full suppport.  
 
Allen has known Rubicon Orbea Team Directors Norrene and Dave Godfrey for years.  His brother Scott rode for their team back when he was riding and Allen raced with them for three weeks before his first pro contract with McGuire Langdale back in 2005.  
 
After this year's track nationals Allen got in touch with the Godfrey's to share his goals and he's very grateful they were able to add him to their roster.
The London Olympics 2012 track events are at the heart of Allen's goals and he says having a season of racing in the US is an important part of the plan.
 
"It's really important. A big season away is exactly what I need to continue heading upwards.  You can make training hard, but you just can't simulate the intensity you get out of racing, especially for me if it's hilly or something like that.  When racing you find yourself digging for that extra few percent," said Allen who jokes those extra few percent are what stop him from being dropped on the hills.
 
Allen has spent time racing in the US before, but recently he's been focusing on criterium events and not the stage races which are on Rubicon Orbea's calendar; Tour de Gila, Joe Martin, Mt. Hood, Nature Valley, Cascade Classic and more.
 
"This will be a bit of a change up for me.  I like riding tours, I normally get better as they go on, but the last few years have just been a steady diet of 100km criteriums."
 
"The best season I've had was when I rode tours all year so I'm really looking forward to doing all these tours in the States I've never done. The first stop for me is the Tour of Gila which has a boatload of climbing, so I'm pretty much going to stop eating from now until then and I should drop enough weight to be fine," the six foot five rider joked.
 
The season will be considered a success by Allen if he gets wins on the board for the team, whether through leadouts or victories himself.
 
"I'm a pretty solid leadout man, or sprinter in my own right when things fall into place for me, so leading out a guy like Paddy or anyone else on the team won't be a problem at all."  
 
"Hopefully I'll be able to take a bit of a leadership role on the road with the fellas and use my experience to help guide them a bit. We've got a tonne of fast guys on the team but if you come into the finish all over the show you normally don't get anywhere, so if we all get together and get sorted, who knows we might surprise quite a few people!"