From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Team Phonak in Paris in the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France.

Phonak Hearing Systems (UCI Team Code: PHO) was a Swiss professional cycling team active from 2002 until 2006. The Phonak team was one of the 20 teams invited to the first UCI ProTour for the 2005 season, where the team showed consistency. Though only winning one overall race in Santiago Botero's victory in the one-week race Tour de Romandie, the team finished second in the team ranking on the 2005 ProTour circuit.

On June 16, 2006, it was announced that presenting sponsor iShares (a subsidiary of Barclays Global Investors N.A.) had signed a three-year contract to become the team's title sponsor beginning in 2007. Thus, the team's name was to become iShares. However, on August 15, 2006, Andy Rihs, owner of Phonak Hearing Systems, stated that the deal had been called off after team leader Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone, and that the team will be disbanded at the end of the 2006 season.^[1]

During the 2004 season it centered on giving Tyler Hamilton the best possible support for winning the 2004 Tour de France. When he crashed and then withdrew from that race, and later was suspended for blood doping, the support riders got a chance to prove their worth in other races. Unfortunately, Tyler Hamilton was not the last rider to be removed for doping, causing the main sponsor Phonak to be disinclined to continue its sponsorship beyond the 2006 season.

The riders accused of the 2004 doping are Tyler Hamilton (appeal dismissed, now banned from competition until September 22, 2006), Santiago Pérez (positive, two-year ban [1]), Oscar Camenzind (positive, ended his career), Fabrizio Guidi (acquitted, active on Phonak) and Sascha Urweider (fired by the team after he tested positive [2] and now awaiting trial).

On August 5, 2006, the Phonak team dismissed 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis after confirmation that a urine sample taken immediately after his Stage 17 win twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.^[2] After a review of Landis' appeal, his Tour de France title was stripped by the UCI on September 20, 2007.^[3]

Phonak Hearing Systems won the team classification at the following events:

• 2006 Giro d'Italia – Trofeo Fast Team and Trofeo Super Team (points)
• 2006 Volta a Catalunya
• 2006 Tour of Qatar
• Paris-Nice 2006
• 2006 Tour de Georgia

• Santiago Botero, born 1972,  Colombia
  Santiago Botero is a specialist Time-Trialist who came 2nd in stage 11 of the 2005 Tour de France behind Kazakistan's Alexander Vinokourov (Astana).
• Nicolas Jalabert, born 1973,  France
• Axel Merckx, born 1972,  Belgium
  Axel Merckx is the son of Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx. He got the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic road race.
• Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero He won the Tour of Catalunya in 2004 and finished 5th of the Amstel Gold Race in 2005.
• Fabrizio Guidi (ITA) He is still competing (Barloworld Team) in 2007. He is a sprinter and has won several stages at the Tour of Austria and at the Tour of Poland in 2006 as well as the General Classification of the Tour des Regions Wallones (in addition to 2 stages.
• Aurélien Clerc (SWI) Today, he races with the French Team Bouygues Telecom and has won one stage of the Classica de Alcobendas in 2006 as well as one stage of the Vuelta a Burgos in 2004.

Name	Date of birth	Nationality	Team 2005	Major Placings as a Phonak cyclist
Santiago Botero	27-10-1972	Colombia		2nd, Stage 11 - 2005 Tour de France
Aurelien Clerc	26-08-1979	Switzerland
Martin Elmiger	23-09-1978	Switzerland
Luis Fernandez Oliveira		Spain	neo-pro
Bert Grabsch	19-06-1975	Germany
Fabrizio Guidi	13-04-1972	Italy		4th overall: 2005 Tirreno-Adriatico
Ignacio Gutierrez Cataluna	01-12-1977	Spain
José Enrique Gutiérrez	18-06-1974	Spain		2nd overall: 2006 Giro d'Italia
Ryder Hesjedal	09-12-1980	Canada	Discovery Channel	4th overall: 2006 Volta a Catalunya
Robert Hunter	22-04-1977	South Africa
Nicolas Jalabert	13-04-1973	France
Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero	14-10-1972	Spain
Jonathan Patrick McCarty	01-02-1983	United States	Discovery Channel
Axel Merckx	08-08-1972	Belgium	Davitamon-Lotto
Koos Moerenhout	05-11-1973	Netherlands	Davitamon-Lotto
Alexandre Moos	22-12-1972	Switzerland		3rd, Stage 2 and 2nd, Stage 4: 2006 Tour de Romandie
Steve Morabito	30-01-1983	Switzerland	neo-pro
Uroš Murn	09-02-1975	Slovenia		9th: 2005 Paris-Tours
Tomasz Nose	21-04-1982	Slovenia
Víctor Hugo Peña	10-07-1974	Colombia		9th overall: 2006 Giro d'Italia
Viktor Rapinski	17-06-1981	Belarus
Grégory Rast	17-01-1980	Switzerland
Daniel Schnider	20-11-1973	Switzerland
Florian Stalder	13-09-1982	Switzerland	Ed'System - ZVVZ
Johann Tschopp	01-07-1982	Switzerland
Sascha Urweider	18-09-1980	Switzerland
David Vitoria	15-10-1984	Switzerland	neo-pro
Steve Zampieri	04-06-1977	Switzerland

1. ^ "Owner set to disband Landis' team", BBC Sport, 2006-08-15. 
2. ^ "Backup Sample on Landis Is Positive", New York Times, 2006-08-05. 
3. ^ "Landis stripped of Tour title; appeal uncertain", Velonews, 2007-09-20. 

• Official site