Christmas Party

Plenty of Christmas cheer at the GP end of year lunch at Scopa yesterday.

Apart from all the usual banter there was the serious business of presenting the White Horse award for 2010. The White Horse went to JC for his outstanding ride at the Tour of Southland this year. Joe won the King of the Mountains classification and took a stage win to boot. Not only that, Joe won the Tour of New Caledonia for a second successive year. Exciting times for the young fella as next year Joe will be riding for a team in France. He will be on the start line at the Tour de Vineyards and Trusthouse Cycle Classic early in the New Year before heading to Europe in February.

As 2010 draws to a close we would like to acknowledge the support of our amazing sponsors: Rocket Espresso Milano, Caffe L'affare, Ricoh, Armstrong Prestige, J Tomlinson & Co and La Gazzetta Della Bici.

And we'll be looking smart in the New Year in our new GP Racing Team t-shirts courtesy of Rocket Espresso, L'affare and Ricoh. Check these out...

GP Christmas lunch

The most highly anticipated event on the GP social calendar, The 2009 GP Awards ceremony and christmas lunch were held at Scopa on 23 December. The nominations for the coveted 2009 GP awards were...

1. Davis Meo for; His continued involvement in the Bianchi Research and Development programme.

2. Guiseppe Barnett for; Retiring as a dodgy photocopy salesman and turning pro bike rider at the age of 45, better late than never.

3. Joe Cooper for; Incorrectly thinking that winning a South Pacific Grand Tour might redeem the fact that his sock height is punter.

4. Craig Loveridge for; Stupidly thinking the world was ready more Loveridge's. Rumor has it the only reason Ziggy was bought into the world was so Lovers could down a few celebratory units.

5. Jono Hales for; Despite being a singlet wearing bearded runner he managed to kick the ass of a former Dulux KOM winner on the mighty Col d'Izoard.

6. Brent Backhouse for; Stupidly being of the belief that a new TT bike would be OK.

7. Slim for; Being fortunate enough not to have gone around the bays more than twice for the year.

8. Glenn Owen for; Wearing his registration tags at all times and not getting picked up by the local dog control officer.

The Dark Horse, White Horse and Rabid Dog award recipients are revealed in the above video. Warning, content may offend some viewers.