7-Eleven (cycling team)
# 7-Eleven (cycling team)

The 7-Eleven Cycling Team, later the Motorola Cycling Team, was a professional cycling team founded in the U.S. in 1981 by Jim Ochowicz, a former U.S. Olympic cyclist. The team lasted 16 years, under the sponsorship of 7-Eleven through 1990 and then Motorola from 1990 through 1996. From 1989 to 1996 it rode on Eddy Merckx bikes.

## History

7-Eleven was formed as an amateur cycling team in 1981 by Ochowicz, a 29-year-old former Olympic cyclist from the U.S., who was married to Olympic speed skating gold medalist Sheila Young. Ochowicz had managed the U.S. national speed-skating team and was friends with Eric and Beth Heiden, who were both excellent cyclists as well as champion speed skaters. He managed to get sponsorship from the Southland Corporation, owners of the 7-Eleven convenience-store chain, and bicycle manufacturer Schwinn to form an amateur team. Of the seven men on the inaugural 7-Eleven-Schwinn team racing in 1981, Eric Heiden (who swept the gold medals in speed skating in the 1980 Winter Olympics) was the captain and the best known. The other Americans were Jeff Bradley, Greg Demgen, Bradley Davies, Tom Schuler, Danny Van Haute and Roger Young (Ochowicz's brother-in-law). They were joined by Canadian Ron Hayman. Although Schwinn dropped out as a co-sponsor in 1982, 7-Eleven added a women's team with Rebecca Twigg, among others, as well as more male riders, including Davis Phinney, Ron Kiefel and Canadian Alex Stieda. The all-amateur 7-Eleven team was featured in the 1985 movie American Flyers, starring Kevin Costner. The 1986 Cycling Media Guide published for the 1986 World Championships lists Jeff Bradley, Chris Carmichael, Alexi Grewal, Eric Heiden, Ron Kiefel, Davis Phinney, Bob Roll, Tom Schuler, Doug Shapiro and Alex Stieda with an additional group of amateur men on the team including Frankie Andreu, Curt Harnett, David Lettieri, Robert Mathis, Leonard "Harvey" Nitz and Russell Scott.

Southland continued its commitment by sponsoring the cycling venue at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where nine Americans won cycling medals. The other (especially equipment) sponsors of the team included Descente, Huffy, Campagnolo, and Tag Heuer. Often, those sponsors elected not to continue after their initial contracts were completed.

In 1985, Ochowitz changed the men's team's status to professional and asked Mike Neel to be the directeur sportif in Europe. The team went to Europe with an initial roster of members including Olympic gold medalists Alexi Grewal and Heiden, Olympic bronze medalists Phinney and Kiefel, Bradley, Schuler, Hayman, Stieda, and Chris Carmichael. When the team received an invitation to the 1985 Giro d'Italia, one of the Grand Tours of Europe, a young American cyclist based in Europe named Andrew Hampsten was added to the team under a 30-day contract for the race. After both Kiefel and Hampsten stunningly won stages during the Giro, becoming the first American stage winners ever at a Grand Tour, 7-Eleven was invited to the 1986 Tour de France and became one of the major cycling teams for the next decade, under the sponsorship of Southland through 1990 and then Motorola through 1996. Ochowicz disbanded the team after the 1996 season, when Motorola decided to discontinue sponsorship.

While it was not the first professional cycling team in the U.S., 7-Eleven was responsible for an overall increase in bike racing interest in the U.S. The team claimed a win in a Grand Tour, when Andrew Hampsten won the general classification as well as the mountains classification at the 1988 Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy). It also claimed a handful of world championship medals and US championships, as well as Tour de France and Giro stage wins and one more Grand Tour podium (Hampsten's third in the 1989 Giro d'Italia). It was the second U.S. team to ride the Giro d'Italia (1985) (the Gianni Motta team was the first in 1984) and in the Tour de France (1986), where two Canadian riders on the team held the yellow jersey on different occasions (Alex Stieda in 1986 and Steve Bauer in 1990). Its Tour de France stage winners included Phinney, Jeff Pierce, Hampsten, Sean Yates and Dag Otto Lauritzen from Norway. In 1989 Brian Walton won the pro-am Milk Race (Tour of Britain). As of 2009, Team 7-Eleven is the only cycling team to have been inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame.

### Bike sponsor

Three bike manufacturers sponsored the team throughout the years: Schwinn from 1981 to 1984, Murray from 1985 to 1986, Huffy from 1987 to 1988, although the team bikes from 1985 to 1988 were primarily built by Ben Serotta. Finally Eddy Merckx sponsored the team from 1989 through their ultimate cessation in 1996. For Eddy Merckx, sponsoring the American team had a special meaning. Eddy Merckx said:

   "I had a special relationship with the 7-Eleven team. They were happy to have somebody with my racing and frame-building experience. For me [it] remains a great memory. I was happy I could make them more successful in Europe, and to see the positive influence they had on the US as a whole. If I had do it over, I would make the same choice straight away."

### Race radios

During Motorola's sponsorship of the team in the 1990s, the riders began communicating with the team cars through the use of two-way radios built by Motorola. The radios were slowly adopted through the rest of the professional peloton, becoming standard equipment by 2002. Acceptance of these radios was hastened by the success in the Tour de France of former Motorola rider Lance Armstrong, who continued to use a race radio when he joined the U.S. Postal Service cycling team.

## Major wins

### 1985

    United States National Road Race Championships, Eric Heiden
    Trofeo Laigueglia, Ron Kiefel
    Stage 15 Giro d'Italia, Ron Kiefel
    Stage 20 Giro d'Italia, Andrew Hampsten

### 1986

    Stage 3 Tour de France, Davis Phinney

### 1987

    United States National Road Race Championships, Tom Schuler
    Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt, Dag Otto Lauritzen
    Overall Tour de Suisse, Andrew Hampsten
    Stage 12 Tour de France, Davis Phinney
    Stage 14 Tour de France, Dag Otto Lauritzen
    Stage 25 Tour de France, Jeff Pierce

### 1988

    Giro di Toscana, Ron Kiefel
    United States National Road Race Championships, Ron Kiefel
    Stage 3 Paris–Nice, Andrew Hampsten
    Stage 3 Tour de Romandie, Bob Roll
    Stage 5 Tour de Romandie, Davis Phinney
    Overall Giro d'Italia, Andrew Hampsten
       King of the Mountains Classification
       Stages 12 & 18, Andrew Hampsten

### 1989

    Grand Prix Eddy Merckx, Sean Yates
    Overall Tour de Belgique, Sean Yates
    Stage 2 Tour de Romandie, jens Veggerby
    Overall Tour de Trump. Dag-Otto Lauritzen
    Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian, Gerhard Zadrobilek
    Urkiola Igoera - Subida Urkiola, Andrew Hampsten

### 1990

    Stage 1 Etoile de Besseges, Scott McKinley
    Stage 1 Tour de Suisse, Nathan Dahlberg
    Stage 7 Tour de Suisse, Andrew Hampsten
    Urkiola Igoera - Subida Urkiola, Andrew Hampsten

### 1991

    Overall Tour Méditerranéen, Phil Anderson
    Wateringse Wielerdag, Phil Anderson
    Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné, Sean Yates
    Stage 8 Tour de Suisse, Phil Anderson
    Stage 10 Tour de France, Phil Anderson

### 1992

    Overall Tour de Romandie, Sean Yates
       Stage 3 Tour de Romandie, Andrew Hampsten
       Stage 5 Tour de Romandie, Maximilian Sciandri
    Stage 14 Tour de France, Andrew Hampsten
    Stage 2 Giro d'Italia, Maximilian Sciandri
    United Kingdom National Road Race Championship, Sean Yates
    GP d´Isbergues, Phil Anderson

### 1993

    United States National Road Race Championship, Lance Armstrong
    Overall Tour of Sweden, Phil Anderson
    Giro del Veneto, Maximilian Sciandri
    Coppa Placci, Maximilian Sciandri
    Overall Tour de Luxembourg, Maximilian Sciandri
    Trofeo Laigueglia
    Stage 8 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong
    World Road Race Championship, Lance Armstrong
    Grand Prix de Fourmies, Maximilian Sciandri
    Overall Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Alvaro Mejia Castrillon
    GP Raymond Impanis, Phil Anderson

### 1994

    GP Herning, Brian Smith
    Overall Route du Sud, Alvaro Mejia Castrillon
    United Kingdom National Road Race Championship, Brian Smith
    Stage 6 Tour de Pologne, Frankie Andreu

### 1995

    Profronde van Almelo, Max van Heeswijk
    Criterium Woerden, Wiebren Veenstra
    Acht van Chaam, George Hincapie
    Stage 5 Paris–Nice, Lance Armstrong
    Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné, Wiebren Veenstra
    Stage 18 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong
    Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian, Lance Armstrong

### 1996

    Vuelta a Castilla y León, Andrea Peron
    Stage 8a Paris–Nice, Maximilian Sciandri
    La Flèche Wallonne, Lance Armstrong
