Adastra (Adastra Bulgaria)	Main Sponsor
Argon 18	Main Sponsor/Bike Supplier
Metinvest	Minor Sponsor
Punch Instant Tea	Minor Sponsor
A1 Bulgaria	Minor Sponsor
Lenovo	Minor Sponsor
DT SWISS	Wheel Supplier
Campagnolo	Groupset Supplier
Bioracer	Jersey Supplier
ErreÃ	Teamwear Partner
Uvex	Helmet and Glasses Supplier
Citroën	Vehicle Provider

Adastra - Argon 18 teams up with Campagnolo for 2018 season
Adastra - Argon 18 to race in Tour of America?
Renewals - who will ride for the team?

After the team got new identity for the 2018, Adastra - Argon 18 announced a new groupset partner. After two season with the Japaneese supplier Shimano, the team would switch to the Italian Campagnolo for the 2018 season.

"Our deal with Campagnolo has been finalized and we welcome them to our team's portfolio of sponsors for the forthcomming 2018 season.", said ivaneurope.

"We would also like to thank our former groupset partners from Shimano for their support over the last two seasons."

DT SWISS were also announced as the team's wheel supplier, entering their third year with the team - "This would be our third year with DT SWISS. We are satisified by their products and it seemed logical to continue our partnership."

Gaerne would supply the team with footwear again for a third year in a row

While the 2018 season is yet to be officially open many teams already started drawing plans for their race schedule. Adastra - Argon 18 is no exception - the main rumour is that the team is planning on making more appearances on North American soil. And the main target is for the team to make its debut on Tour of America.

The Tour of America, often called "Mini Grand Tour" due to its length of 21 stages, is the longest event in the MGUCI calendar that is not part of the Grand Tour pack (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España). The 2018 race will start with a prolgue in Edmonton and the first half of the race will be held in Canada, before crossing the border and from then on the race will continue in the United States (with the exception of Stage 15 which will see the peloton back in Canada). The race is set to finish in Ellensburg, WA but not before a gruelling mountainous TT in Yakima Peak.

As the race is of C1 category all PCT and CT teams are eligible to enter, meaning that Adastra could make an appearance. However as Andrey Zeits pointed out, they may not get the pass and would depend on how the squad would look like.

With the renewals done, it is time to reveal who remained with the team, and who was realeased. Out of the 18 riders who had full-time contracts, only 7 of them got contract extensions while 11 were released.

It is no surprise that Petar Panayotov was one of the first to be confirmed to stay as it was touted by media outlets a while ago that he'd be safe no matter what. The Bulgarian contigent is completed by Stanislav Zaraliev and Nikolay Mihaylov, the Bulgarian TT NC winner.

Thomas Degand, who worked mainly as support role to Panayotov also got extension and is set to continue his support role to the leaders in the mountains. Maxim Belkov's stay was thought to be one of the riders who would be released, but the Russian, who was plauged by an early season crash in Poland, would also have role as domestique.

The big question was whether or not Grega Bole will continue with the team and in 2018. It was rumoured that the Slovene would get booted out due to subpar season, but after consulting with other managers, Bole also got extension and it is believed that he'd get more personalized calendar that fits his riding style.

Most surprising in the renewals was Marildo Yzeiraj. The Albanian rider was thought to be also out on free, but apparently Xhuliano Kamberaj, who rode for the team on loan from Isostar, convinced the bosses to keep him.

Sadly 11 riders got released - Jakob Fuglsang, Oleg Bedros, Marius Petrache, Georgi Petrov Georgiev, Nako Georgiev, Jan Stöhr, Maxime Le Montagner, Jonathon Thire, Daan Rijntjes, Mikel Nieve and Clive Ebejer. The release of the Romanian duo came as a surprise as both were thought to remain, but according to sources they were released due to budget issues. Ebejer is said to look for another team and if he can't find one, he'd move to coaching role in the team.

With this big cleanup it is thought that the team would be active in the transfer window. With so many big name free agents availlable, there is a chance for Adastra to get strong riders on cheap.

With 13 riders not being renewed it was only natural for the team to get new riders from the 2018 ManGame Transfer Window and the team made some headlines.

The first signing was Valentin Stoenchev who came as free agent from Podium Ambition. His signing was to bolster the TT strength and this was only the beginning.

Then the team signed the 3rd from the Japanese RR NC Hideto Nakane. The 28 y/o climber was deemed surplus to the needs of the Repsol - Netflix squad after Honda left. Later the team acquired Ukrainian TT specialist and 2nd from the TT NC Dmitri Grabovski. Comming from Philips - Continental Grabovski has said that he will relish the new opportunity and that the project is promising

But it doesn't stop there - from Generali's team were signed two TT riders. Dion Beukeboom
from The Netherlands and Krzysztof Marchewka from Poland are said to be the leaders of the TT squad and it is expected that in one of the goals - Vilnius GP the team to be among the frontrunners.

The team also secured from Carlsberg John Ebsen. Ebsen (31 y/o) is said to be one of the domestiques which will help the GC leaders in the mountains. Ebsen has said that Adastra has faith in him and he'd make sure he will repay them.

The team also managed to secure two Canadians from the RBC outfit - Charles Matte and Zachary Hughes. While the rule for exact number of Canadian riders was removed, the parent company - Adastra Group - asked the team to sign at least one Canadian in the squad. Well, the team has signed not one, but two riders from THe Great White North and both riders are expected to shine in the new enviroment.

But the big news came on July the 23rd. That was the day the team signed Romain Bardet, becomming the second leader in the team after Petar Panayotov, who remained from the last year. The team had interest in Bardet last year, but Philips - Continental swooped him back then. Now Adastra has second GC rider and it is expected more from them. The team also explores the possibility of Bardet and Panayotov sharing leadership in some marquee events - including Tour of Bulgaria.

Aquarius97 wrote:
Great job Ivan, you seem to have strenghtened a lot the squad, something that was very much in need

While the transfer window will slam shut in a few days, Adastra - Argon 18 have managed to secure 3 new riders for the forthcomming season. The first one was Stefan Hristov - despite winning the Bulgarian RR NC, Hristov along with fellow teammate Valentin Stoenchev were released by Podium Ambition during the renewal season. Both now have found new home in Adastra and will reunite with fellow alumni from Lululemon/Bulgaria Blackfish Nikolay Mihaylov, Stanislav Zaraliev and Petar Panayotov. The signing of Hristov means that the Bulgarian NC jersey would be part of Adastra's portfolio in both RR and TT.

The team also loaned two Czech riders from Moser - Sygic and both coincidently are named Michal - Kukrle and Schlegel. Kukrle was signed by Moser - Sygic as free agent and was loaned to gain the experience needed to develop. Schlegel is also loaned from the Czech team - he's decent climber and is considered to head to better things in the future. Adastra, who has offices in the Czech Republic, gave the green light for the loan deals stating that the team is predominantly European.

There is no confirmation if Adastra is bidding for another rider, but by the end of the transfer window anything is possible. With a quota of maximum 20 riders the team has only one seat left. The team is also set to take part in the "designated riders" draft in which CT teams would get two additional riders for no wage cost. It is unknown whether or not Adastra would submit priority list, but they could use this draft as a means to get more cobble oriented riders to support Hristov in cobbled terrains.

This article isn't your typical sponsorship announcement or transfer update. This is a more of a storytelling thing which encompasses 5 riders, who at some point of their careers were together in one team and now after each one carved their own paths, now they're reunited. This is the story of Petar Panayotov, Nikolay Mihaylov, Stanislav Zaraliev, Stefan Hristov and Valentin Stoenchev.

Back in 2013 TheManxMissile started the Boeing-Vivacom ProCycling which was the first full fledged team from Bulgaria. 9 riders from the nation were selected to defend the team's colors - among them were Mihaylov, Stoenchev and Hristov. In the first season of the team it finished 17th in the CT division (the then second tier of the MGUCI hierrachy) with the Bulgarians scoring decent Top 10 results in some events. But it wasn't enough to elevate the team from the lower midfield.

With the introduction of the PCT inbetween PT and CT as the second tier, the team entered the PCT division. However Vivacom decided not to continue sponsoring the team. The Bulgaria tourist board steped in to fill the void and the team was repackaged as Boeing - Bulgaria BiCycling. The team at the time got their primary target - Petar Panayotov as a Free Agent. In the meantime the team also signed a then 24 year old Frenchman whose name would be revealed at the end of the article. The team finished 26th in the PCT with Panayotov their best placed rider, but in the standings he was 88th.

Following that there was another repackaging - as Boeing left the team, Lululemon/Bulgaria Blackfish beacame the new name of the team. Despite finishing in the dropzone, the team remained in PCT division with no small part to teams folding. The team decided to loan Hristov out. However the team was again in the bottom - finishing 27th. This time relagation was imminent.

By 2016 TMM's team began to lose its Bulgarian flavor, now dubbing themselves as Podium Ambition. But filling the void a new ambitious project was started - Vivacom - DataMap. It was Vivacom's second foray in cycling and began supporting ivaneurope's opperation. The team signed Zaraliev and Mihaylov as well as signing Georgi Petrov Georgiev - another alumni. Petar Panayotov was sold to Netia - Norske Skog. Vivacom's first season however ended on the bottom - 24th. On the other hand Podium Ambition reached promotion first time of asking.

When the team missed the deadline to vote for NC routes, which meant ineligibility for the events, Vivacom was planing to bail out. However due to contractual obligations and the possibility of a lawsuit for breach of contract if they did leave. Vivacom decided to stay - now the team was named VMP - Argon 18 with Argon 18 and Moto Pfohe giving major backing. The team signed Panayotov reuiniting him with Mihaylov, Georgiev and Zaraliev. While the signing was good, the team's fortunes were not - the team finished dead last. And in the sponsorship department wsasn't good either - Vivacom decided to leave after the contract expired, while change of ownership saw Moto Pfohe also pulling its backing.

The team was in dire need of new backer. The only one who stuck with the team after the abysmal 2017 season was Argon 18. The team was reluctant to seek international sponsor, but Argon 18 steped in and contacted Adastra Group to offer them the opportunity to be main sponsor of the team under the condition the team would be Bulgarian/Canadian. Adastra already had presence on the Bulgarian Market through its subsidiary Adastra Bulgaria and the deal was set. Soon other sponsors like Mtel (now A1 Bulgaria), Citroën, Erreá, Punch, Metinvest and Bioracer joined the team. This time the transfers were great with the team signing Hristov and Stoenchev who were released by Podium Ambition (Georgi Georgiev was released by VMP). And do you remember the young Fremchman from earlier - that was Romain Bardet. Back in 2014 the team signed Bardet mainly as supportive role for Panayotov and after 3 years both are again in one team. Now both would be the flagship riders of Adastra - Argon 18 and the team hopes to turn its fortunes up after two abysmal season.

The Adastra - Argon 18 team started the 2018 season with new branding, kit and hopes that this season will be at least better than the previous two. The team started in the C1 event Tour Down Under, however the team perhaps will want to forget this race as Michal Schlegel was the best rider in 33rd and 5th in the U25 Standings.

The team then visited Venezuela Vuelta al Tachira where Romain Bardet was the prime focus of the team, battling for the GC after finishing 3rd last season. The star for the team in the early stages was Timothy Dupont. Despite not winning a stage where he could as Ismaël Kip from the Festina - Canal+ (which is Festina - Dexia's B squad), Dupont was a Top 10 regular in those stages with 2nd place in Stage 5. Bardet on the other hand had a hard time on the TT stage - as he doesn't have the TT skills he was out of Top 10, but the damages were limited as he was on a whisker of Tuens. Jonas Bjelkmark was the best performer in that stage in 11th. In the end Bardet finished 8th in the GC while Adastra finished in the Top Half of the Team Standings.

The following race was part of the madnatory C2HC calendar - Great Ocean Road Classic.
The team didn't expect that much based on the results of Grega Bole and Michael Vanderaerden in TDU. Surprisingly a breakaway riders were on the top while the peloton had to scrape for 4th and below. Vanderaerden to the surprise of the team showed his true power and finished 5th, collecting 33 vital points for the team. With this race he climbed to 15th in the overall CT standings.

Adastra collected in total of 72 points which placed the in 11th place in the Team Standings. Now, compared to what the opperation got last year - 7 points in January - this season is set to be at least massive improvement from the previous year