Rodriguez, Kristoff highlight Katusha’s 2015 team presentation in Spain

The official presentation of the 2015 Russian WorldTour Team Katusha was held Friday in the Spanish town of Calpe. along the Mediterranean Sea.

During the event, the 2014 season was summed up, and the main goals for the upcoming season were outlined, before a formal presentation of the full 2015 roster of the Russian team.

“The last season was full of bright and unforgettable events,” said general manager Viacheslav Ekimov. “Indeed, in some moments of the year we had some bad luck, but first of all we remember our beautiful victories and great successes. Milano-Sanremo and the Tour de France, Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de Romandie, Volta a Catalunya and Vattenfall Cyclassics, the Russian Championships and the Norwegian races — these are the memories of Katusha’s 2014 season. We spent a solid year in the WorldTour, and now we are working hard to prepare for the new and seventh season of our team.

“We have set up some ambitious goals and we are looking forward to reaching them. Among the main purposes of the team, first of all we have to mention the successful performances of our Russian riders in the WorldTour races. The 2015 season is a pre-Olympic year and we will do everything possible to earn Olympic quotas for Russia. In addition, among our other goals, we hope to see successful performances from our riders in the classics races, and in stage races as well as the Grand Tours. The Katusha roster has been strengthened significantly and I am sure we can realize our plans.”

The presentation was attended by honored guests of the team, sponsors and partners of the Russian Global Cycling Project, as well as representatives of the Russian and European media.

The line-up of Team Katusha in 2015: Maxim Belkov, Sergei Chernetckii, Vladimir Isaychev, Pavel Kochetkov, Alexander Kolobnev, Dmitriy Kozonchuk, Viacheslav Kuznetsov, Sergey Lagutin, Aleksandr Porsev, Egor Silin, Iurii Trofimov, Alexey Tsatevich, Eduard Vorganov, Anton Vorobyev, Ilnur Zakarin (all from Russia); Joaquim Rodriguez, Daniel Moreno, Angel Vicioso, Alberto Losada (all from Spain); Jacopo Guarnieri, Giampaolo Caruso, Luca Paolini (all from Italy); Alexander Kristoff, Sven Erik Bystrøm (both from Norway); Tiago Machado (Portugal); Gatis Smukulis (Latvia); Simon Špilak (Slovenia); Rüdiger Selig (Germany); and Marco Haller (Austria).

Sports directors for 2015: José Azevedo, Dmitry Konyshev, Torsten Schmidt, Gennady Mikhaylov, Claudio Cozzi, and Xavier Florencio.