Management

KATUSHA (KAT) - RUS

The Russian Katusha team could again provide the winner of the individual UCI WorldTour ranking in 2013. The team's Spanish star, Joaquin Rodriguez, won the title last year and his powers do not seem to be diminishing despite the fact that he is now 34. The Spanish rider has announced his ambition for this year’s Tour de France where he is seeking to improve on his seventh place in 2010. Second place in the Giro d’Italia and two third placings in the Vuelta a España show that he is a serious contender for the podium on the Champs-Elysées.

Rodriguez can also score points in one-week stage races and hilly classics such as the Flèche Wallonne and Tour of Lombardy, both of which he won last year.

In his quest to head the world rankings, Rodriguez will be supported by his compatriot Dani Moreno, also a formidable puncheur, and Russia’s Denis Menchov, always a good performer in the Grand Tours.

Katusha is not in such a strong position in the cobbled classics, but will certainly play the role of a significant outsider. Luca Paolini is the experienced campaigner who will take charge of his young teammates after the retirement of Oscar Freire. Among the burgeoning talents are Austrian Marco Haller, winner of a stage of the Tour of Beijing in 2012, and German rider Rüdiger Selig, fourth in the Under-23 World Championships in 2011.

Other young prospects have also joined the team. These include two Russians aged 23: Sergey Chernetskiy, an excellent climber and time trialist who made a name for himself last year in the Tour de l'Avenir and Giro della Valle d'Aosta, and Anton Vorobyev, who demolished the field in the Under-23 Time Trial at the World Championships, averaging 48.9 km/h over 36 kilometres.

The arrival of these two talents emphasises Katusha’s role in the “Russian Global Cycling Project” that develops young riders through satellite teams and has the mission of encouraging the Russian people to take to their bikes.