Team Gazprom-Rosbank is finally announced! It is a russian based Continental Div2 Team and we are excited to call 2012 our first season.
It is owned by Alexei Miller, current CEO of Gazprom. After his Team is heavily involved in Sponsoring for Sports, Miller wanted to create a new Area of sports excellence for Russian Athletes. So he created a new Cycling Team. The Team hopes to have a good Relationship with the Russian Pro Cycling Team Managed by Oleg Tinkov.
The aim is to make Russian Cycling more popular and of course to score some wins...
Team Jersey
Of Course every Team needs a Jersey. The designers of PUMA came up with this beauty here:
We are pleased with the result and we hope that we have a few new tasks for them after the signings in terms of National Champion jerseys...
The Sponsors
Our Sponsors are the Russian Gas Company Gazprom and the Bank Rosbank. Minor sponsors include Pinarello and Rostelecom.
Alexander Serov Aleksei Bauer Mikhail Timochine Aleksandr Bazjanov Aleksandr Bespalov Egor Silin Valeri Valinin Sergei Klimov Ilya Chernetsky Bart Wellens Xavier Tondo Andrea Masciarelli Samai Samai Danail Petrov
Edited by miggi133 on 29-06-2012 23:31
The Team was a bit resented to see that there are no Russian Races in the Continental Division 2. However, With The Klasika Sniezka being a race in Eastern Europe (Poland). So our most important Goal this season is to win the
Klassika Sniezka
Another important Race for us will be the Delta Tour. We also want to be present in Europe. Therefore our second win goal is a win at the
09.02-09.02 UAE Dubai Grand Prix
17.02-22.02 Tour of Geelong (6 Stages)
27.02-27.02 Kuurne-Brrüssel-Kuurne
07.03-07.03 Strade Appia Antica
12.03-19.03 Tour of San Juan (8 Stages)
31.03-31.03 Championship of Zürich
10.04-10.04 GP Marseillaise
21.04-25.04 Ronde van Belgie (5 Stages)
10.05-12.05 Delta Tour de Zeeland (3 Stages)
23.05-23.05 Dutch Food Valley Classics
25.05-25.05 GP Miguel Indurain
16.06-16.06 Klasika Sniezka
20.06-22.06 Tour du Picardie (3 Stages)
28.06-28.06 Neuseenclassics Rund um die Braunkohle
02.07-02.07 GP Kranj
02.07-02.07 Univest GP
14.07-18.07 Vuelta a Asturias (5 Stages)
17.07-27.07 Tour de Maroc (11 Stages)
05.08-10.08 Settima Ciclista Bartali (6 Stages)
19.08-19.08 GP de la Reunion
31.08-31.08 Tour of Pendle
09.09-14.09 Clover Lowveld Cycle Tour (6 Stages)
24.09-24.09 Tour of South China
01.10-06.10 Tour of Utah (6 Stages)
08.10-08.10 Chrono Gatineau
23.10-23.10 GP Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese
Additional Dates
28.07-28.07 Olympics - Road Race
31.07-31.07 Olympics - Individual Time Trial
26.09-26.09 World Championships - Team Time Trial
27.09-27.09 World Championships - U23 Time Trial
28.09-28.09 World Championships - Elite Time Trial
29.09-29.09 World Championships - U23 Road Race
30.09-30.09 World Championships - Elite Road race
25.10-31.10 National Championships - Road & Time Trial
Yesterday, on July 15th, the transfer Season has started. Team Gazprom is aiming for Talented Russian and eastern European Riders, while they also want to sign a good cobble specialist.
Up to now, The Team has a few bids open.
However, the Team has pulled out on certain transfers already as Alexei Miller gave the Team a Salary Cap of only 900.000.
"We see a lot of good riders on the market but with the ContiDiv2 regulations of a minimum of 12 riders, it is simply not possible to bid high on every rider we want", said Directeur Sportif Vyatchelav Ekimov.
The DS still sees a lot of potential on the market and is sure that he can assemble a strong team that can reach the propsed goals.
The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
Edited by miggi133 on 16-07-2011 19:03
Moscow -About 24h after entering the transfer Season, Team Gazprom appears to have signed the first share of riders.
Names mentioned are Mikhail Timochine, Aleksandr Bazjanov and Aleksei Bauer. All three riders are Russian and would make a great deal for the team in meeting the UCI Regulation.
Especially The Transfer of Timochine could be a huge success on the transfer market as he had several good results in recent years with his biggest achievement being a stage win and the General Classification at the Slowenian GP van Karnj. Mikhail Timochine
However, neither the UCI, Vyatcheslaw Ekimov (DS) nor The Team Management have confirmed the signing of the three riders.
Aleksei Bauer, one from the yet to be confirmed signings of Gazprom-Rosbank (pic:Cycling archives)
Moscow -About an hour after the first rumours surrounding the new Russian Gazprom Team, another rumor has come to the fore, stating that also Alexander Serov signed with the newly formed team.
Serov riding for Tinkoff
Serov is good at timetrialling and also a good stage racer. The rumors say that he will be one of the teams leaders. However this rumor has also yet to be confirmed.
We are happy to announce and confirm the transfers of 4 riders. The first 3 Transfers were sealed at 18:51 Greenwich Time.
The first Transfers include Mikhail Timochine (, 50.000), Aleksandr Bazjanov (, 50.000) and Aleksei Bauer (, 50.000).
Timochine is expected to lead the team in the cobbles where as Bauer will be important for our sprints. Bazjanov will mainly be a team mate who will be a good addition to the team.
The 4th confirmed Transfer comes in person of Alexandr Serov (, 50.000). Serov will be one of the Team captains. He has good Timetrialling skills and is not to bad when it comes to uphill sections.
We are happy to confirm all 4 contracts. However we are utterly resented that the local newspapers hinted at those signings before our and the UCI's confirmation. We apologise dearly to the UCI for the leak and measures have been taken against this.
Vyatcheslav Ekimov, DS of Gazprom-Rosbank
Edited by miggi133 on 16-07-2011 23:51
The Cycling Team Gazprom-Rosbank confirms 4 new signings
The Russian Continental Team Gazprom-Rosbank announced 4 new signings.
The signings ceter around 3 Russians and one Bulgarian. The Names that were confirmed only 10 minutes ago are: Alexander Bespalov (, 165.000), Egor Silin (, 50.000), Valeri Valinin (, 50.000) and Danail Petrov (, 50.000).
Aleksandr Bespalov will lead the team in Timetrials and will be a good addition to our team. He has had some good results in recent years, including two national TT championsships in Russia. Bespalov will lead the Team in TT's
Egor Silin is a young Talent, who can develop into a top class Mountain rider. He will be a huge support in the Mountains for Petrov and will obviously get his own chance. "We are happy that we signed him, as we were looking for a rider just like him. I hope he can pay us back the trust we put into him." said DS Vyatcheslav Ekimov.
Valeri Valinin is the third signing of the day. Valinin has shown some strong performances on hills. "His performance in uphill Terrain was one the main reasons why we signed him", said Ekimov, hinting at a probable role as Captain for Valinin.
Last but not least is Mountain Goat Danail Petrov. The Bulgarian will be a strong Teamplayer in the mountains who is the best shot at a stage win in the mountains (so far).
In other news, The Moscow Times is pleased to announce an official Press-Partnership with the Russian Team. From Now on, The Russian Times will take charge of official Press Releases.
Article by: Mikhail Andropov
On behalf of: The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
After a hard Fight and Long Wait: Sergei Klimov signs with Gazprom-Rosbank
After a long wait and a hard fight with the DS of Team Metinvest-Solvnaft, Alvin Wargunnson, Sergei Klimov () finally signs with team Gazprom. However the highest bid was posted at 17.57 on the 16th of July. Team Gazprom aquired Klimov for a Price of 99.000.
Klimov joins the team as an important sprinter who is also good on hills.
DS Ekimov said that:"Although we didnt sign Sobal, we are still happy to sign Klimov who is cheaper than sobal would have been. On top of that, both riders are somewhat equal in their style of riding. A very good signing. This day so far has been perfect for us as we got nearly every one we wanted (apart from Sobal, Comment from the editorial office) and we have a good few bids open which will hopefully complete our Roster."
Sergei klimov will be an important addition to the team
Article by: Mikhail Andropov
On behalf of: The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
With Xavier Tondo (, 50.000) and Bart Wellens (, 50.000), Gazprom-Rosbank has confirmed two more signings in the transfer season. Both come for minimum wage but will be an important part of the team.
Xavier Tondo will lead the team in the mountains together with Petrov, while Wellens will support Timochine in the Cobble Classics. Though being not the best TTer, Tondo (R.I.P) will be seen on his TT bike often this season as we see room for great improvement
Bart started of in Cyclocross but we are happy to announce that he chose Gazprom-Rosbank for his first team "sur Route"
Article by: Mikhail Andropov
On behalf of: The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
Edited by miggi133 on 25-07-2011 12:08
Gasprom-Rosbank ends their hunt for free Agents after Day 3
After only 3 Days on the Market, Team Gazprom-Rosbank announced that they have completed their squad. Next to the 11 already confirmed riders, the Team Management announced the signing of 3 more riders just minutes ago.
The three riders joining the team are Samai Samai (, 50.000), Iyla Chernetsky (, 50.000) and Andrea Masciarelli (, 50.000). On their last day on the market, the team signed 3 very different types of riders. Samai Samai is an indonesian Sprinter who has had several Achievements in track cycling and now hopes to be a worthy sprint contender on the road. Iyla Chernetsky is an allrounder who will help the team in every possible situation, while Masciarelli is one of our main riders for the hilly classics. "We are happy to have made those three signings. They all fit into our team and it is a crucial move to have signed a strong squad for the limited amount of money given to our team." said DS Ekimov. "However, we are a little bit resented about the fact that we couldnt sign many young talents. It was a hard task, especially because there were not many young Russian riders that fit into our spectrum. We understand however, that the young russian talents all got the opportunity to prove themselves in a higher division with the team of Manager OlegTinkov."
The Team is really glad to come to terms with all its targets so early and is now gearing up for the upcoming premier season. Official releases around the team state that the 14 riders will now be packing for a training camp in Sochi to wich they will go after the Team Presentation on Wednesday.
We, from Moscow Times wish the team good luck and a succesfull season.
Article by: Mikhail Andropov
On behalf of: The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
The season might not start until February, yet Team Gazprom is already on the bike. The Team is in a Training Camp in Sochi, where the Winterolympics will be held in 2014. However, the team found sun and warm conditions in Sochi which made the training rides very pleasant.
Team Gazprom on a Training ride
One of the teams Captain, Aleksandr Bespalov, said that the team might just be one of the best teams he has ever ridden in. "I am really happy with the team. We are strong on every terrain. It is a pleasure to ride with such excellent riders like Xavier [Tondo] and Danail [Petrov]. Also Aleks S. [Alexandr Serov] and Franceso [Masciarelli] seem to be a perfect fir for our team. But in my opinion, our most important rider is Sergei [Klimov] because he is a good rider on every terrain..."
Furthermore, the team has officially announced the Teams Race schedule for this year. You can look it up here
Article by: Mikhail Andropov
On behalf of: The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
Edited by miggi133 on 25-07-2011 17:53
Today, Pinarello CEO, Mr. Roturn, made a visit to the teams training centre. Santa Roturn, the new Nickname given to Mr. Roturn by Gazprom Rider Alex Bespalov, had a huge bag full of presents with him, namely new road and TT bikes as well as the first edition of Pinarello's new helmet line. At an official press conference, Mr. Roturn pointed out, that the new bikes are specially engineered for every single rider and that way especially the TT bikes will bring another 3 tenth as opposed to the old bikes the team was using for training up to now...
In the last few days there have been some previews of the Continental Division 2. Here is what Roturn, Count Arach and Smowz wrote about us:
Count Arach:
Gazprom-Rosbank
Manager: miggi133 Nationality: Russian Goals: The new Russian team on the block is looking for a win at the Klasika Sniezka, which will probably be one of the toughest races to call in the entire season and a top 10 in the Delta Tour Zeeland, which seems to be a popular race this season. Both races will require someone who is proficient on cobblestones and certainly Sniezka will require someone who can climb hills decently too. These sorts of riders are hard to come by in D2 as most of them are employed by the higher-ranked teams as they make brilliant domestiques. They are also looking for 8 stage wins in stage races, which will require a sprinter, an area that has become quite competitive. Team Overview:
This team really has a huge amount going for it. They are competitive to some degree in all categories, in no small part due to the work Tinkoff has done to train several of these guys up. Starting with the cobbles, which are absolutely key for this team, the team has two leaders. First up is Russian Mikhail Timochine, who is quite a traditional flat cobblestone rider. Secondly is Bart Wellens, the Belgian cobbler. However, Wellens has another talent – he can climb better than most cobblestone riders. This duo together could potentially get both of the main team goals, though Wellens will need a lot of support due to his low stamina.
Moving on to the sprints, which will also be important, and this team has a couple of noteworthy riders. First up is Sergei Klimov, one of the best climbing sprinters in the whole division and in fact he can really be classified as an all-rounder. Expect him to take results in various types of terrain. Next up is Alexsei Bauer, who is more of the traditional sprinting mould, but capable of acting as a lead-out or seeking out placings by himself. Finally there is Indian sprinter Samai Samai, who I would suggest was so good he was named twice... but he isn’t so good. No ability to climb or even ride on the flats means that he is likely to be dead weight all season.
Now onto the hills and once again the team has a depth of talent to draw on. Andrea Masciarelli is their leader and, though he isn’t great, he could take a few decent results through the season. The good news for him is that most of the team are capable of acting as solid support on hilly terrain, though Valeri Valinin is likely to be his lieutenant.
In terms of mountain climbers and stage racers, this team once again has a great deal of depth. Xavier Tondo leads them in the climbs, alongside Danail Petrov, who is also capable of riding a solid time trial. Both also have strong enough support stats to ensure that they can perform well over a number of days. Alexsandr Serov is likely to also be seeking out a position of team leader in any stage race with mountains and also a time trial. Finally, (see what I mean about them having depth) Alexandr Bespalov is one of the absolute best time trialists in the entire division and has a high wage to prove it. He will be the favourite to win any short hilly tours with a time trial, just like another certain Russian in the CT.
Young talent is the only thing this team doesn’t excel at, with most of their riders being aged around 30. The only real prospect this team has is Egor Silin who could one day become a decent enough stage racer, with a bit of monetary investment. At the very least he will not struggle to find a place as a domestique in teams who wish to shore-up their climbing domestiques. Prospects in 2012: If it seems I’ve spent more time describing this team than any of the others thus far, it is because I legitimately believe they stand a real chance of winning the division title. They are competitive in every single field, even if they will not necessarily dominate in all of them. With two strong cobblers they may well achieve those goals, but even if they don’t I think that the season wins goal is well within their grasp. Klimov can bring in results on many types of terrain, Bespalov should win at least one time trial this year, and the team is likely to get lucky elsewhere. Smowz says: You know it's possible that we could have a Russian team on top of both CTour divisons! Then this team spoilt it all and signed the worthless Samai Samai, Bespalov is one of the best TTers in the division and Klimov should give good value.
Roturn:
Gazprom-Rosbank (miggi133)
Leaders: Aleksandr Bespalov, Xavier Tondo, Andrea Masciarelli Sprinters: Sergei Klimov, Aleksei Bauer Nationality: Russia
With Bespalov they have one of the best time trialist of the CT2 in their team. He should take care for some very good stage results and wins. He also has less problems with hills and could do well in stage races because of this combination. Serov is another time trialist in their squad with good climbing skills. So another great rider for good results.
In the mountains Xavier Tondo is their best rider. He will need a good day if he wants to challenge the best, but he should still be good enough for some good results. He will be supported by Petrov, who is also able for some decent results in weaker startlists. Also he is a good stage racer with his time trial skills. So expect some nice results, no wins but top10-15 is possible.
Same for Masciarelli in the hills. Not the best, but some good results should be possible. As Tondo he is a weak time trialists, so it will be hard for them to get very good overall position.
In the sprints their hope is on Klimov. He is definitely capable for some good results. 1-2 stage wins should be possible as he can climb much better than many other sprinters. Also Bauer will get his chance to prove his speed in the finish. But different to Klimov he will struggle a lot on the climbs.
An interesting rider is Timochine. He should be able to compete very good in the cobbled classics. A top10 or even a top5 in these races aren`t impossible for him.
Goals:
Their goals are quite hard actually. Winning the Tour de Zeeland depends on Bespalov, how he can perform on the short pavement sections. If he can stay there and already had the lead after the prologue everything is possible. Their second win goal is for Tondo. The Klasika Sniezka is a hard mountain classic with a cobbled climb. Not sure how the cobbles influence the riders but depending on the startlist it could be possible, although I think others are stronger on this climb. They want to win 8 stages in stage races. This depends on Bespalov a lot. If he can win 3-4 time trials, then it`s possible for the others. Otherwise it might be too hard.
Rating:
In general this team can reach the top10 team standings. They have good riders for every kind of races and this might be their big advantage.
Smowz star pick:
Sergai Klimov, ex Tinkoff man was useful last year so should be good in this company.
Samai Samai gains maiden podium for Gazprom-Rosbank
After a poor start in dubai, Gazproms sprinter Samai Samai, scored the teams Maiden Podium. At the first stage of the tournof geelong the indonesian came 3rd and regained the respect of the cycling world. DS Vyatcheslav Ekimov was ´happy with the performance of the much critisised sprinter and stated that this was just the beginning of the teams Cont-Div 2 campaign and ´he hopes that bespalov and valinin can score some more top 3 finishes...
Samai proved Smowz and other critics wrong with taking 3rd today (far left)
Article by: Mikhail Andropov
On behalf of: The Gazprom-Rosbank Management
Edited by miggi133 on 21-08-2011 11:37
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Great one.
