In front of a crowd of some 200 sponsors, journalists, friends and family, the 2016 Team KATUSHA and new soon-to-launch cycling clothing company KATUSHA Sports were presented in Calpe, Spain on Saturday evening where they outlined their ambitions and goals for the forthcoming season.
28 riders from twelve countries were presented for the newly branded WorldTour team, and before discussing the new season, Team KATUSHA looked back at their most successful year so far in the seven seasons of racing for the current UCI second-ranked team.
Video highlights of their 40 wins and 103 podium placings provided an opportunity for General Manager Viacheslav Ekimov to praise their efforts and also look forward to the future of the team.
Ekimov: “We only missed a few points to be the number one team in the world and this gives us motivation to strive for more. We know we can do even better in 2016, in particular improving our Team Time Trial skills. We are working on this by setting a clear target for 2016 – to be top 5 TTT at the World Championships.”
“We are again ambitious for Overall podiums in GT races, having guys like Rodríguez, Van den Broeck and Taaramäe. And of course we have a super train for our absolute leader Alexander Kristoff, hopefully resulting in more wins in one-day WorldTour races or stages.”
The six featured riders of Jurgen Van den Broeck, Simon Špilak, Joaquim Rodríguez, Ilnur Zakarin, Rein Taaramäe and Alexander Kristoff arrived at the podium on their bikes, outfitted in the 2016 Team KATUSHA kit which features a predominate ‘K’ on the front and back in new colours of coral, sangria and blue.
Van den Broeck and Taaramäe both spoke of their excitement for new opportunities and already fitting in with their new teammates, while Špilak and Zakarin both recalled their surprising and well-deserved wins in the past season, with Ilnur revealing he will ride the Giro d’Italia with ambitions of a high overall result.
The final two interviews started with team leader “Purito” Rodríguez, who will focus once again on the Ardennes classics, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España as he looks for another successful season.
And finally the most winning rider of the season, Alexander Kristoff, spoke to the crowd. In addition to reflecting on his year of winning, Alexander Kristoff was pleased to announce that the team will travel to compete in the USA for the first time and will race in May’s Amgen Tour of California, a race he will use in his preparation for the Tour de France.
The last introductions were made in groups with the Time Trial Specialists, All-rounders, Sprinters and Climbers coming onto the podium to discuss their 2016 ambitions before a final round of applause rang out for the 2016 team of riders.
Directeur Sportif José Azevedo also spoke of how he is pleased with what has been accomplished with the team and knows more good things are in store for Team KATUSHA.
“When I see all of these riders I am not only happy, I am very proud. We talked already a lot about last season but I look forward. We’ve worked hard these two weeks in Calpe and I saw that all 28 riders are hungry to make 2016 even better than last year,” said Azevedo.
“The number of victories is not so important, but the quality counts. A podium in the Tour, a World or Olympic title, it looks difficult, but you need to be ambitious. We will prove that we deserved to be the best team in 2015. We have the best riders and the best staff people. We all work for the same goal and we will succeed, I am sure!”
Team Katusha in 2016 is made up of 28 riders from twelve countries – Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia and Spain:
Maxim Belkov, Sven Erik Bystrøm, Sergei Chernetckii, Jacopo Guarnieri, Marco Haller, Vladimir Isaychev, Pavel Kochetkov, Dmitriy Kozonchuk, Alexander Kristoff, Viacheslav Kuznetsov, Sergey Lagutin, Alberto Losada, Tiago Machado, Matvey Mamykin, Michael Mørkøv, Nils Politt, Aleksandr Porsev, Jhonatan Restrepo, Joaquim Rodríguez, Egor Silin, Simon Špilak, Rein Taaramäe, Alexey Tsatevich, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Angel Vicioso, Eduard Vorganov, Anton Vorobyev, and Ilnur Zakarin
Let’s hope they don’t ride in groups of three’s
Will we be treated to tongue in cheek comments about racism if three from this squad happen to ride side by side??
Lots ^