Get to know road and track talent Raymond Kreder, Garmin-Barracuda

Last week Michel Kreder on Team Garmin-Barracuda won two stages back-to-back in the unusually cold Tour Méditerranéen. The eight Garmin-Barracuda riders in the race included his younger brother, Raymond, a member of Team Chipotle (now Team Chipotle-First Solar) last year.

Team Chipotle-First Solar is the latest incarnation of Jonathan Vaughters’ dedication to the development of under-23 cyclists, a program he launched in 2003 with Team 5280-Subaru. In 2012 Raymond Kreder, Alex Howes and Jacob Rathe moved up from this development team to the Garmin-Barracuda World Tour team.

Raymond Kreder, 2010 Redlands Classic (photo via Slipstreamsports.com)

About Raymond Kreder

Raymond Kreder was born in Zevenhuizen in the Netherlands. He began riding with the Chipotle Development Team in 2009 at 19 years-old. Prior to joining the Slipstream Sports program, he rode for the Belgian Davo Cycling Team. During the 2010 season he raced with the World Tour team as a stagiaire and achieved top 15 results in the Circuit Franco-Belge and a seventh place in the Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke.

In 2010 Raymond Kreder once again demonstrated his skill on the track by winning first place in the Dutch track championships points competition.

He likes the cobblestones, previously naming Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders as his favorite races. And with good reason. In 2006 Raymond Kreder won the juniors version of Paris-Roubaix. In a 2011 interview, Raymond Kreder said he regards that as his biggest win and remembers it as if it happened yesterday.

Raymond Kreder has learned a lot from and still trains with his brother, Michel, who is two years older.

Raymond Kreder sprints well. A tweet by Vaughters in late 2011 indicated he will be called upon together with Koldo Fernandez, Murilo Fischer, and Robbie Hunter to provide a strong lead-out for Tyler Farrar.

Will Raymond Kreder tackle Paris-Roubaix in 2012 to help Vansummeren defend his 2011 title? In late 2011, that might have seemed too much to expect from a 2006 winner of the shorter juniors Paris-Roubaix. Now given his and the team’s performance last week, it might not be.

Regardless, it sounds from his tweet during the Tour Méditerranéen that Raymond Kreder is already living his dream season: “I love my brother @michelkreder ;)! Its really really nice to ride in the same team and same race! Thnxs garmin-barracuda!”

Follow Raymond Kreder on Twitter, @krederRaymond.

Career details

Born: 11/26/1989

Near one of the two Zevenhuizens in the Netherlands (photo by J. Knol, a.k.a. BrotherJohn, on Panoramio)

Race results highlights:

• 2011 three top-5 results in the Rutas de America, two 4^th places in the Tour de l’Avenir
• 2010 Dutch Track Champion, 1st in points competition, 1^st stage 3 of Cascade Classic
• 2009 3^rd in the Noordwijkerhout and additional races in the Netherlands
• 2007 three victories in the Vuelta a les Comarces de Castello Juniors races
• 2006 1st in Paris-Roubaix Juniors
• 2005 Dutch Junior Track Champion, 1^st in points race

Teams: 2008 Davo Cycling Team, 2009 Felt-Holowesko Partners U-23 team, 2010 Team Holowesko Partners and stagiaire on Garmin-Transitions, 2011 Chipotle Development team (team history prior to 2008 not identified).

[Many thanks to J. Knol for permission to use his lovely photo of Zevenhuizen, the Netherlands.]