Clif Bar will sponsor Tour de France team

BERKELEY, Calif. Clif Bar on Tuesday announced it would help sponsor Team Garmin-Chipotle, presented by H30, one of two American cycling teams invited to this year’s Tour de France.

Team Garmin-Chipotle has a reputation for competing drug-free in a sport that’s been tainted by steroid scandals. To help foster that reputation, each of the team’s 25 riders will undergo combined voluntary testing at least 700 times throughout the 2008 season; 20 times the number of tests that most professional cyclists are subject to annually.

“Team Garmin-Chipotle is an example not just in cycling but for all amateur and professional sports, that athletes can achieve success, ethically,” stated Jonathan Vaughters, director sportif for Team Garmin-Chipotle. “Clif Bar natural and organic products work hard and work well with the body to help us train harder, recover faster and perform better.”

“We’re seeing a real shift in the state of sport, with athletes looking for products that can deliver performance benefits through natural means,” stated Dylan Seguin, Team Clif Bar’s athlete experience manager. “Athletes are finding that natural sports nutrition works as well or better than synthetic and artificial supplements, and is better for the body, both in the short- and long-term.”

The 95th Tour de France runs July 5-27, 2008, and is made up of 21 stages covering 2,175 miles.