tribute tuesdays: 7-11 Cycling Team

Today, we pay tribute to an organization instead of an individual - we pay respect to the 7-11 Cycling Team. The most noticeable rider would have to be Andy Hampsten; who was one of the first Americans to ever win a stage at a Grand Tour. But, there was also the future mentor of Lance Armstrong, Chris Carmichael.
The team was influential in changing America's role, and interest, in the Grand Tour's of cycling. Not only were they the second team to ever compete at that level, but they were the first to take stage wins and overalls - most notably at the Giro D'Italia. Their success sparked an American renaissance of cycling, and its arguable that riders like Greg Lemond would have been more hard pressed to allocate teams willing to take a risk on American upstarts.
Entering the 90's, the team dissolved into Team Motorola with Eddy Merckx taking the mentorship reigns. As you all know, Motorola brought a little guy named Lance Armstrong to our doorsteps. 7-11...who would have guessed they would have brought more than cheap slushys into our lives.