Management

KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) - RUS

The Katusha team represents the Russian Global Cycling Project in the UCI WorldTour, with several important Russian industrial sponsors backing the team and its major budget with the goal of developing Russian riders for both the road and track.

Hans-Michael Holczer is the new team manager for 2012, taking over the reigns from Andre Tchmil and he has bolstered both the team’s management and the rider roster. The demise of the HTC-Slipstream team meant that several talented directeur sportifs were available and Holczer wisely secured the services of Valerio Piva, while former German sprinter Erik Zabel joins the team as sprint coach and special advisor. They are an efficient and modern thinking combination.

“I think we’ve had a good start to 2012, winning stages and also doing well overall,” Holczer explained. “Thanks to Valerio’s arrival, we started the season with a new approach that includes a lot more testing between races and a lot more analysis during races. I’m confident that we can overcome even bad luck and that the potential of the team is very good.”

New riders include veteran sprinter Oscar Freire and stage race star Denis Menchov. 2012 is likely to be Freire’s last season in the pro ranks but he is determined to go out on top and was a contender in all of the early season classics. Menchov is likely to focus on the Tour de France, where the long time trials suit his style of racing. He could become the first Russian rider to ever win the Tour de France.

Other team leaders include Joaquin Rodriguez, Luca Paolini, Vladimir Gusev, emerging sprinter Denis Galimzyanov, and constant attacker and track rider Mikhail Ignatiev. 13 of the riders are from Russia, including promising young riders Maxim Belkov, Petr Ignatenko, Timofey Kritskiy. Germany’s Rudriger Selig, Aleksander Kristoff of Norway, Gatis Smukulis of Latvia and Slovenia’s Simon Spilak are all future talents who have yet to emerge.