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Katyusha team set for swift cycling glory after 2009 debut

Jul 15, 2008, 14:23 GMT

Pau, France - The new Russian Katyusha team presented itself at the Tour de France rest day on Tuesday, with top official Oleg Tinkoff hoping to win the race in the near future. 'We want to have the Tour winner in two or three,' Tinkoff said at the presentation in Pau's Navarra hotel. Katyusha is to take the licence of the Italian Tinkoff team from 2009 onwards. It is sponsored by the three big Russian companies Gazprom, Itera and Ros Technologie. The financing is similar to that of the Astana team, which is backed by major companies in Kazakhstan. The Katyusha sponsors are to provide an annual 15 million euros (23.9 million dollars) per season for the team - plus another 15 million for a cycling infrastructure in Russia. Tinkoff, who runs a Russian brewery, is to become the general manager at the new team. Former Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo winner Andrei Chmil is to lead the team as sports director. Sprinters Gert Stegmans of Belgium and Robbie McEwen of Australia have been mentioned as possible top riders, but Tinkoff did not want to comment on the possible riders for the team.

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Katyusha team set for swift cycling glory after 2009 debut

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