| Team information | ||
|---|---|---|
| UCI code | TCS | |
| Registered | Italy | |
| Founded | 2007 | |
| Disbanded | 2008 | |
| Discipline(s) | Road | |
| Status | Professional Continental | |
| Key personnel | ||
| General manager | Stefano Feltrin | |
| Team manager(s) | Omar Piscina | |
| ||
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Tinkoff Credit Systems (UCI team code: TCS) was a professional continental cycling team based in Italy that had UCI Professional Continental status, raced in UCI Continental Circuits races and when selected as a wildcard to UCI ProTour events. The team was financed by Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov.
Tinkoff Credit Systems emerged from the 2006 Continental team Tinkoff Restaurants, which was based in Russia and headed by Alexander Kuznetsov (Александр Кузнецов), employed Russian cyclists and was based upon the Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv team.[1][2][3][4] Of the eleven cyclists employed by the team, eight moved on to Tinkoff Credit Systems: Pavel Brutt, Ilya Chernetskiy, Mikhail Ignatiev, Serguei Klimov, Anton Mindlin, Ivan Rovny, Alexander Serov and Nikolai Trusov.
In January 2007, the Italian Ambassador to Russia Vittorio Surdo supported the formation of the Russian-Italian team Tinkoff Credit Systems explaining "for Italians, cycling is sacred, since the Prime Minister of Italy is an avid cyclist."[2]
Stefano Feltrin was the general manager of Tinkoff, while Omar Piscina was team manager, assisted by Orlando Maini, Dmitri Konychev and Claudio Cozzi. Owner Oleg Tinkoff had worked hard to build links with the Italian cycling community, which garnered wildcard invites to the major RCS races, including the 2007 Giro d'Italia.
The team was disbanded in 2008, with the new Team Katusha formed as a UCI ProTour team in its place, and using Tinkoff Credit Systems structure.[5][6]
Tinkoff used Colnago bicycles with Campagnolo components.[2]
After the 2013 Tour de France, Oleg Tinkov announced he was ending his sponsorship of Saxo–Tinkoff in favour of reviving Tinkoff Credit Systems from January 2014, with a commitment for five years.[7] However, in December 2013 Tinkov confirmed that he had bought Team Saxo-Tinkoff from Bjarne Riis and that the team would compete in 2014 under the name Tinkoff-Saxo with Riis remaining as the team's general manager.[8]
- ^ NewsRu staff (1 October 2005). В "Тур де Франс" появится российская команда (Russian team will appear in the Tour de France). NewsRu (newsru.com) (in Russian). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Субботина, Анна (Subbotina, Anna) (22 January 2007). Олег Тиньков раскручивает педали (Oleg Tinkov spins the pedals). «Коммерсантъ» (in Russian). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Комова, Юлия (Komova, Yulia) (22 July 2011). "Тренер Александр Кузнецов: Тиньков ненадежный человек" [Coach Alexander Kuznetsov: Tinkov is an unreliable person]. Советский спорт (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Александр Кузнецов: "Тиньков сломал судьбу целой группе талантливых российских спортсменов"" [Alexander Kuznetsov: "Tinkov broke the fate of a whole group of talented Russian athletes"]. sports.ru (in Russian). 1 August 2011. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Brown, Gregor (December 17, 2008). Tinkov breaks with Team Katusha: Oleg Tinkov is leaving cycling and the team he funded for the last two years. Cycling News. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ Cycling News staff (5 November 2012). Hamilton on Tinkov: His return is a setback for cycling: Former rider wanted to warn Riis to stay clear of Russian. Cycling News (cyclingnews.com). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ Weir, Keith; O'Connor, Philip (25 July 2013). Palmer, Justin (ed.). "UPDATE 1-Cycling-Tinkoff ends sponsor deal, to launch own team". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "Oleg Tinkov buys Saxo-Tinkoff team, becomes Tinkoff-Saxo for 2014". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2014.