NOKIA
A world-famous company with a vast reputation around the world for their reliable and sturdy mobile phones: Nokia, with headquarters in Espoo, Finland, seemed the perfect choice to launch our new Baltic team. We hope that their sponsor image will draw people to follow Nokia - Ekspla and that we will form a great partnership

EKSPLA
One of the richest companies in Lithuania, Ekspla is a company that focuses on producing cutting-edge laser technology. We are sure that they will help us in the technological side of cycling, who knows, they might equip our riders with laser guns?

AIR BALTIC
Our tertiary sponsor is AirBaltic, who don't contribute enough to the team to gain a place in our name but provide transport for all the riders in between races. A Latvian based company, this low-cost airline serves all of the Baltic countries with flights to Europe and beyond.

Status: Leader
Tanel will be our leader in the mountainous races this season (of which there are not so many actually) and also in the hills. He is OK at time-trialling but not great but will be one of the most important members of the team. He has been national time-trial champion twice in the past, gained valuable World Tour experience last year with Astana; and won the Tartu Grand Prix two years ago, a race he will be looking to win again this year. Tanel is only 24 and so is eligible for the U-25 rankings and we hope he can win at least one of them this year.

Status: Leader
Aleksejs will lead our strong cobbles team (more of which to follow) and is a great fighter on the road. He has triumphed in the Latvian national road race four times and has the experience of winning with victories in races like Grand Prix d’Isbergues, Münsterland Giro, Druivenkoers Overijse and the Tartu Grand Prix. At the age of 29 he is at the peak of his abilities and will be looking for some victories this season.

Status: Leader
A real talent, Ramunas has been Lithuanian road race champion twice, despite his obvious talent for time-trialling. He was part of the Garmin-Cervélo team that triumphed in the TTT in the Tour de France in 2011; but arguably his greatest achievement was winning the U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2010; proving he has ability on the hills. At just 23 years of age, we hope that 2012 will be the breakthrough year for Ramunas and he can secure victories in the time-trials for the team.

Status: Sprinter
Gediminas will be the team’s joint main sprinter, alongside our next man in the team presentation. He has also been Lithuanian TT-champion twice in the past and at 26 is approaching his peak. He possesses a good kick at the end which has enabled him to win the An Post Rás, and a stage in the Tour of Britain last year.

Status: Sprinter
Alongside Bagdonas, Normunds will form a potent sprint duo that must rank as one of the best in the Continental division! He has not achieved many notable results in the higher-ranked races, apart from being Latvian champion in 2008, but we hope that 2012 is Normunds’ time to shine.

Status: Protected Rider
Rene, or the Frog as he is sometimes known, is one of those oddities: a sprinter who can climb. Since good Baltic climbers seem to be rather non-existent, Rene will focus on building up his climbing skills to assist Tanel in the mountains. He hasn’t really achieved any notable results in his career, apart from winning a stage in the Tour de Bretagne last year.

Status: Protected Rider
At 35, Janek’s best days are behind him but he is still a good sprinter and is handy on the cobbles - forming an important part of our classics squad. He has achieved some notable results over the past, for instance a winner of Halle-Ingooigem, the Tallinn-Tartu Grand Prix twice, and the Tour of Picardie; to go with the seemingly complementary two national road race titles.

Status: Protected Rider
Gatis is a real talent and that reputation was confirmed when he won the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen four years ago aged just 20. After that amazing achievement, however, he has chosen to focus on his time-trialling abilities more than his cobbling abilities, and they have been left behind somewhat. Gatis is also a great lead-out man and someone who loves getting in to the breaks, as he proved last year with a memorable stage win in the Volta a Catalunya.

Status: Protected Rider
Ignatas has achieved the most notable result out of any rider in our team - winning a stage in the Giro! He triumphed in the last stage, an ITT, in 2009; so you can guess where his strengths lie. A former track cyclist, he has won the Lithuanian TT championships four times but can also handle himself very well on the cobbles. Another rider who has gained experience in the WT, he rode for Movistar for two years.

Status: Team-mate
After announcing his retirement in December, we have managed to entice Kjell Carlström back into the sport! At 35, he has bags of experience and has won a stage in Paris-Nice. A three-time national champion of Finland on the road, Kjell is a good climber on the hills and has rode for Sky and Liquigas over his career.

Status: Team-mate
A similar type of rider to Carlström, Veikkanen is a bit younger, but has won the Finnish nationals five times. With a win overall in La Tropical Amissa Bongo and stage wins in the Deutschland Rundfahrt and the Tour Méditerranéen, he has showed his capabilities and has also rode for Francaise des Jeux for six years!

Status: Team-mate
A young sprinter, Marius is a relative unknown in the sport and has never won a professional race. We see potential in him as a strong lead-out for Bagdonas amongst others and he will be a key member of the team in the next few years.

Status: Team-mate
Another young rider, Egidijus is primarily a sprinter but can climb the hills pretty well and so will be interesting to see how he develops. He’s only won the national championships once, however.

Status: Team-mate
The last member of our team, Raivis is also the eldest, with vast amounts of experience in the cycling world. He specializes in time-trialling and has won the Latvian National Time-trial championships (wait for it…) ten times! Yes, ten! He’s also won the Three Days of De Panne,the national road race title, and stages in the Tour de Suisse and the Tour of Luxembourg. He is also a good fighter and is considering taking up a coaching role within the team at the end of the season.

Individual Standings

			Points
1		Ramunas Navardauskas	27
2		Gediminas Bagdonas	21
3		Gatis Smukulis	19
4		Rene Mandri	10
5		Aleksejs Saramotins	9
6		Raivis Belohvosciks	9
7		Kjell Carlström	7
8		Jussi Veikkanen	6
9		Janek Tombak	6
10		Egidijus Juodvalkis	3
11		Normunds Lasis	2
12		Ignatas Konovalovas	2
13		Tanel Kangert	2
14		Marius Bernatonis	0

Country Average Standings

			Avg Pts
1		Latvia	9.0
2		Lithuania	8.4
3		Finland	6.5
4		Estonia	2.7