PowerNet Tour of Southland winner Heath Blackgrove has been headlined as team captain for US Elite Amateur squad Team Hotel San José.  Based out of Austin Texas Blackgrove said Team Hotel San José should be competitive in nearly every type of race. The squad has added strength for breakaways and hilly races, and boosted its speed for sprints and criteriums.

"While the extra strength will give us more options, I am very excited to work with the sprinters we have on board and setting them up for the bunch finishes," Blackgrove said. "I really think we're going to surprise a lot of people this year."

Additional strength from New Zealand will provided by Logan Hutchings, racing for the first time in the United States. The 25-year-old won two stages at last year's Tour of Southland and is a former New Zealand U23 road and time trial champion. Colombia's Carlos Vargas, 27, provides additional sprint speed for the team with Aussie Sean Sullivan a key part of the team's lead-out train.

Team Hotel San José pro/elite roster:
Alex Battle-Woods* (USA)
Zach Bergh* (USA)
Heath Blackgrove (NZl)
Travis Burandt* (USA)
Josh Carter (USA)
Cody Foster* (USA)
Logan Hutchings (NZl)
Stefan Rothe (Ger)
Ronnie Strange (USA)
Sean Sullivan (Aus)
Joseph Tokarski* (USA)
Carlos Vargas (Col)
*Under-23