Cyclepassion 2011 calendar for xmas

Fabienne Heinzmann on the cover of Cyclepassion 2011

For those of you who are still wondering about what to get for xmas, or if you are the girlfriend of a cyclist and not sure what to get him, then look no further. The 2011 Cyclepassion calendar is by far the best cycling calendar in the time it has been around. Very tasetfully done, while showing off the top road and mountain biking women racers in a way we’ve never seen them before.

Well, here are some video trailers for the calendar, tastefully put together by  Markus Neuert of Cyclefilm:

Calendar / DVD – 1 of 3

Calendar / DVD – 2 of 3

Calendar / DVD – 3 of 3

The 2011 Cyclepassion Athletes:

Willow Koerber (USA) – Trek/Subaru – MTB
Heather Irmiger (USA) – Trek/Subaru – MTB
Liz Hatch (USA) – Lotto Ladies Team – Road
Veronica Andreasson (Sweden) – Lotto Ladies Team – Road
Julie Krasniak – (France) Look – Road
Fabienne Heinzmann – (Switzerland) BMC – MTB
Mona Eiberweiser (Germany) – CentralPro – MTB
Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) Road/Cross

So, what are you waiting for?!

Girls of Toyota United Pro Cycling Team

The Girls from the Toyota United Pro Cycling Team (Thanks to Pez Cycling and their Daily Distractions for this pic)

Over the course of December, as my workload quietened down at The Tour and I had some time to read through the various cycling news sites from around the world, I came across the Toyota United Pro Cycling Team and the team girls.  Just as with my post of the Rock Racing Girls, I thought it only fair that I post pictures of the Toyota Girls.

Who knows, now that Nissan is sponsoring Team Radioshack and Jaguar is sponsoring Team Sky, maybe in time we will see each team bring out their own ‘eye candy’ supporters at the major events of 2010?

(Again - Thanks to Pez Cycling News for this one)

Apparently this model's name is Elizabeth (from the Tour of Georgia 2006)

And apparently this model's name is Nicola (from the Tour of Georgia 2006)

Another one of Nicola

Nice!

Even famous American woman’s cyclist, Liz Hatch, has been seen wearing the Team United team kit. Apparently she was dating a guy from the team and decided to wear his top…

Liz Hatch

Have you come across any cycling teams that have their own female groupies? If so, please feel free to send me the links to them. I’ll be happy to post them up here.

Cycle Passion – cycling’s own Pirelli Calendar

Nikki Harris

Last year I came across the Cycle Passion calendar and posted a blog on it as part of my xmas wish list. Now it seems this year that the calendar range has picked up in profile and in its fifth year of production is getting more media attention than before. I suppose a good thing, especially for the models who are helping to make the calendar what it is. And with all the publicity it is receiving, it makes me wonder if this calendar series is becoming the Pirelli calendar of the cycling world?

According to RoadCyclingUK:

Let’s not forget the origins of the calendar in the first place. Anke Wilken was the wife of a frenetic, obsessed cyclist who spent any and all of his free time on a bike. Anke felt she would sooner or later become a bike widow – fast losing ground to her husband’s love affair with the sport. The calendar was a response to this, initiating the first exclusive female cycle calendar and hoping to challenge her husband’s view and at the same time spicing up the cycling world with a female touch of beauty and passion. Sadly they’ve since split up. I wonder if the calendar was the cause…

Anyway, back to the current day and the latest 2010 calendar is another impressive collection of artfully and tastefully shot women cyclists not really wearing all that much clothing. There’s the odd bicycle or component in there as well but you won’t notice that for all the smouldering pouting and suggestive looks going on.

The 2010 calendar features Sabine Spitz (Germany), Lene Byberg (Norway), Julie Krasniak (France), Monia Baccaille (Italy), Anna Sanchis (Spain), Steffi Marth (Germany), Solveig Lindgren (Sweden) and our very own Nikki Harris (UK).

And here’s a taster of what you will get when you buy the calendar:

Sabine Spitz

Monia Baccaille

And for those of you that want to see some behind the scenes footage from the 2010 calendar, here are some YouTube clips of the girls:

Anna Sanchis

Sabine Spitz

Add this to my xmas wish list

Miss February, Hanka Kupfernagel

Thanks to the team at Bikeradar.com for their ideas on stocking fillers for xmas this year.

One item of notable mention from the online news site is the 2009 Cycle Passion Calendar. It’s a huge format calendar (40 x 60cm) featuring high-quality photos of female cycling stars including the likes of Sabine Spitz (gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, European mountain bike champion 2008), Hanka Kupfernagel (2008 elite women’s cyclo-cross world champion, gold medal winner at the Sydney Olympics) and Irina Kalentieva (Bronze medallist in Beijing, mountain bike world champion in 2007).

Methinks somehow this is a gift I will have to buy myself. Can’t see my wife going out of her way to get this for me.

For more ideas on xmas stocking fillers for road riders, see the list of ideas from Bikeradar.com.