Basically, every rider is available for the right offer and the table above is pretty much our current list of availabilities which will change depending on my needs and the first signings. We appreciate all offers and will be happy to talk with everyone about every rider although some riders will require offers way above fair value. Please feel free to hit us up with every slight interest as plans can change quickly and this won't be the final look of things.

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Transfer window is the place where Evonik shines And then they shine on the road. And their jersey shines too

Expecting more 'shining' all season long!

After riding in the same jersey since 2015, Evonik - ELKO will ride in a different jersey for the upcoming season. The 2018 jersey combines our style of previous seasons with the colors of the Latvian flag and represents our ambition to further develop Latvian cycling. The jersey is a product of the Aidan&Hoyle Design Group and we thank them for their work.

As the only professional team in Latvia, we obviously see ourself as the perfect place for young riders to find their strength and develop. Hence we quickly offered some young Latvians a contract for the next season with the mutual understanding that the partnership will last for longer:

Becis is the most experienced of the new signings and he is one of the most versatile riders you'll find. Depending on who you ask you will hear that he is either a puncheur, a rouleur, a sprinter or all of it and he also is our best time triallist, does well on the cobbles and climbs well. He's a real jack of all trades if you ever saw one.

Kristaps Budenieks is a young latvian who is equally versatile to Becis. We will follow his season closely to see where his strengths are but we could see him as a very versatile classics specialist or a strong domestique on all uphill roads among other things.

People might only know Martins Blums as a world class mountainbiker in his age group but he wants to make the transition to road cycling. He is the biggest climbing talent in Latvia since Andris Vosekalns and we're looking forward to seeing them race alongside each other in the future. However, he will ride in the continental division for the new Zalgiris team from Lithuania during the next season to learn to ride in fast moving peletons.

Two of our riders will join Martins Blums in Lithuania. We're very sad and happy at the same time that Evaldas Siskevicius will leave our team. Sad because he was an incredibly important member of our team and Toms Skujins will surely miss his most important domestique during spring season. Happy because Zalgiris and Siskevicius is a match made in heaven and it can only be benefitial for baltic cycling if two Baltic teams work together to develop baltic cycling. We wish him all the best on his future endeavors and the door will be always open for a return.

Our super talent Miguel Angel Lopez joins Blums and Siskevicius for a year long loan and we are excited to see them ride together. We expect him to pick up enough skills to be a real threat in 2019.

While the three previously mentioned Latvians are mostly allrounders with potential to be solid PT riders we also have found a Latvian with star potential: Ingus Eislers might already be older than most talents but he still has quite a lot of room to improve. He is the type of strongman sprinter that we like and he survives climbs better than most sprinters. This season he will ride solely for experience but starting next season he will be an important asset for our leadout train and in 2021 he will be one of the most unique and interesting sprinters around. We're glad that we could sign him because he was our number one free agent priority this season.