Team says being ambitious is a priority, rather than using San Luis and Down Under as training
Although January races are very early in the season and key targets such as the Ardennes Classics and the Grand Tours are still far away, the Katusha team has made clear that it doesn’t see the opening events as an opportunity to simply build form.
Instead, the team’s head directeur sportif José Azevedo has made clear that he expects a strong showing from his riders in the upcoming events, saying that the team must make an impact on the results.
“We want to make a very good start of the season in the WorldTour race in Australia as well as in Argentina,” he said, referring to the Santos Tour Down Under and Tour de San Luis.
“These are high-level competition races, so it means that results are important. It is our responsibility to show our colours. We cannot consider races as training. Of course some riders have goals later in the season, but be assured, in our first races Katusha is ambitious.”
The 2013 world number one and Tour de France podium finisher Joaquim Rodriguez will be one of the riders in the Tour de San Luis lineup. So too Dani Moreno, the 2013 Flèche Wallonne victor and double Vuelta a España stage winner.
Alberto Losada, Angel Vicioso, Giampaolo Caruso and Luca Paolini will also travel to Argentina for the 2.1 ranked race, which begins on January 20th, runs for seven stages and includes three uphill finishes plus a 19.2 kilometre time trial.
The team’s selection for the Santos Tour Down Under was revealed yesterday. Giro d’Italia stage winner Maxim Belkov and Tour of Luxembourg stage victor Aleksandr Porsev are on the squad, as are Eduard Vorganov, Mikhail Ignatyev, Marco Haller, Pavel Kochetkov and Egor Silin.
They will first race in the People’s Choice Classic on January 19th, then the Santos Tour Down Under itself starts on January 21st.