The President of Tinkoff Credit Systems Oleg Tinkov announced today that the team will expand and become one of the top
competitive teams in the world thanks to the support from the foundation formed by Gazprom, Itera, and Rostechnologii.
The foundation was created in order to promote Russian cycling and increase the cycling movement in Russia. Andre
Tchmil, General Manager and Coordinator of the foundation provided details concerning the establishment of a Russian professional
team dedicated to young athletes and children in conjunction with Russian Cycling Federation.
The professional team will be utilized to develop young Russian riders, but will also be international in scope. Stefano
Feltrin, the current Tinkoff team General Manager will remain with the team being newly re-named to Katusha. The objective
of the Katusha squad is to participate and win races on an international scale; the team will represent the standards of excellence
for future generations of Russian cyclists that will develop under this plan.
Apart of the three new sponsors the plan is also backed by Russian prime-minister Vladimir Putin. Katusha will have a budget
of 30 million euro, which is about twice as much as Astana, the current team with the largest budget.
Oleg Tinkoff said: "We want to shine on all levels and are willing to go very far to realise this." Tinkoff continued by
saying: "We have enough money to sign whoever we want: Cadel Evans, Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen..."
Gert Steegmans already signed with the new team, and according to Belgian media reports Silence Lotto sports director Hendrik
Redant will join the new team as well.
