Nissan Sponsors Lance Armstrong Cycling Team

Tour de France, Stage 20, Livestrong photo

When Lance Armstrong is not riding a bicycle, he will be riding a Nissan vehicle. The car maker has announced it is sponsoring Team RadioShack, the new Lance Armstrong professional cycling team.

Nissan becomes the team’s official vehicle of Armstrong’s Team RadioShack.

This posting is from 2010

Nissan support of Team RadioShack is no longer in effect

Since 2010, Nissan Leaf has become the world’s best-selling EV

Lance Armstrong, as if you didn’t know, is the record-breaking seven-time winner of the Tour de France and founder of the LIVESTRONG Charitable Foundation, which promotes healthy living and the fight against cancer. Armstrong is a cancer survivor.

In addition to Lance Armstrong, Team RadioShack consists of 24 professional riders from around the world, many of them considered among the strongest competitors in cycling today.

The team is competing in a busy schedule of professional cycling races worldwide in 2010, including the Tour de France, the Tour of California and the Tour of Missouri.

Nissan_LEAF_2010 — Nissan LEAF plug-in electric car

Nissan also has been making headlines with its Nissan LEAF plug-in electric car, the first EV to be mass-produced and available globally.

Partnering with the Armstrong cycling team is a great fit, since bicycles and electric vehicles are both zero-emission transportation.

The LEAF goes on sale spring 2010 and arrives in showrooms later in the year.

“Team vehicles and new technologies play a key role in the success of any professional cycling team and we look forward to using Nissan products as we race around the world,” said Armstrong.

“There’s a powerful alignment between cycling enthusiasts’ interests and Nissan’s in terms of performance, durability and sustainability – whether their favorite ride has two wheels or four,” said Nissan marketing VP Christian Meunier.

This is not the first time Nissan is an athletic supporter (sorry, but I could not resist that pun). Nissan already sponsors the Sports Illustrated College Football and Rodale Fitness programs.

There are more than 21 million cyclists in the United States and the 40 million cycling fans that attended live events around the world in 2009.

To learn more about how to get started cycling, or improve your skills, check the website Cycling for Boomers, written by Grace Lichtenstein, a long-time professional journalist and dedicated amateur cyclist.