Great Ocean Road Classic	31 January
	Tour de Langkawi	1-7 February
	Viana do Castelo	10 February
	Volta a Catalunya	18-23 February
	Gisborne GP	22 February
	Hong Kong Challenge	25-27 February
	Circulo de Juarez	5-9 March
	Geraardsbergen-Bosberg	18 March
	Tour of Eritrea	22-27 March
	Jelajah SKL	28-31 March
	Tour de Vineyards	4-9 April
	Betonexpressz GP	18 April
	Lincoln GP	26 April
	Corsica International	28-30 April
	Tour of Romandie	2-7 May
	Windhoek ITT	4-5 May
	1 Jour de Dunkerque	7 May
	Tour du Faso	12-14 May
	Tour d'Andorra	19-23 May
	Giro del Trentino	19-21 May
	Tour of Japan	1-6 June
	Tour of Vancouver	13-19 June
	Tour of South Africa	18-23 June
	Hanko Classic	26 June
	Monterrey TTT	30 June
	Tour de San Luis	1-8 July
	Bayern Rundfahrt	11-14 July
	Tour of Bulgaria	16-20 July
	Vilnius GP	23 July
	USA Pro Cycling Challenge	27-30 July
	Benelux Challenge	1-6 August
	Grands Prix Cyclistes	20-21 August
	Euskal Bizkleta	10-13 September
	GP Yekaterinburg	29 September
	Philadelphia International Championship	1 September
	Transfagarasan GP	24 September
	Zuri Metzgete	1 October
	Course de Solidarnosc	6-9 October
	Herald Sun Tour	6-10 October
	Zuri Metzgete	18 October

Metinvest signs 1-year extension, ROKiT also announces 1-year deal
Renewals update

Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling has announced two new sponsorship deals for the forthcomming MGUCI season. The first deal is more of a extension deal with Ukrainian metalurgy company Metinvest. After the disbanding of the Metinvest-Dacia team, Metinvest became sponsor of the Adastra team last season in a low-key 1-year deal. Following decent campaign which saw the team winning Giro del Trentino and Vilnius GP as well as winning the Bulgarian NC titles in both RR and TT, Metinvest exercised a clause in their contract which enabled them to extend the deal for another year. Anastasiya Klymenko personally announced the extension.

"We're pleased to announce that Metinvest will continue to support Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling for the 2019 season." - Anastasiya Klymenko, head of PR and marketing of Metinvest Group

In the same time the team announced another deal - ROKiT Phones signed 1-year deal with the team and it's reported that the deal is the same as the one with Metinvest. This adds Adastra's cycling team as part of the ROKiT's sponsorship portfolio which includes the Williams F1 team and the Houston Rockets NBA team.

There're still speculations on who will supply the team with bicycles this season - reports circulate that Canyon, Cannodale and Cervelo would bid.

The 2018-19 MGUCI off-season was busy one for Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling. The team also announced their 2019 roster following the renewal process. out of the 18 riders contracted, 7 of them got an extension.

The most obvious extension of them all was Petar Panayotov. Pana was the team's heart and soul throughout the season and he started well with 2nd place in the Hong Kong Challenge. It was followed up by even bigger feat - winning the Giro del Trentino. Unfortunately, he went out of Top 10 in Tour of Bulgaria, which was considered as a letdown by him, but he turned his luck around to win the Bulgarian National Championship.

Another big renewal was Japanese rider Hideto Nakane. Comming from the Repsol-Honda squad, Nakane participated mostly in breakaways which rewarded him with two KoM jersey - at the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of Bulgaria. His performances were convincing enough to earn himself an extension.

Michael Vanderaerden was a free rider during this season and his performance in the sprints which resulted in multiple top finishes, convinced the team's management to give him full-time contract in 2019.

Valentin Stoenchev and Krzysztof Marchewka - two of the Vilnuis GP heroes - were also awarded with new contracts. Stoenchev also won the Bulgarian TT NC which helped him to stay in Adastra jersey for one more year.

Romain Bardet was also given an extension despite his form not being what was expected, but he was a fine co-star in the Panardet duo which was used in some races. Rounding up the renewals are the two Canadians - Charles Matte and Zachary Hughes

These riders did not receive new contracts for the 2019 season and thus the team has let them go in free agency - Nikolay Mihaylov, Stefan Hristov, Stanislav Zaraliev, Grega Bole, Marildo Yzeiraj, John Kronborg Ebsen, Dion Beukeboom, Maxim Belkov, Dmitri Grabovski and Timothy Dupont

jandal7 wrote:
Like to see the fat trimmed and ready for a transfers restructure! However sad to see some good riders released though.

knockout wrote:
Certainly a smart choice to release some of them. Gives you a lot of room to finally chase some CT stars to push you up the rankings a bit

With transfer season nearly over, Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling is proud to present its 2019 roster which will compete in the following MGUCI season. This article will cover the new arrivals acquired via transfer deals and trades:

Xhuliano Kamberaj - OVL: 74.19
Key Stats: 77 REC, 77 SPR, 76 ACC
Kamberaj is the only member of the innaugural roster, when the team was called Vivacom - DataMap. After two loan seasons with the team, the Albanian sensation spent the last season in his parent team Isostar Slovenija, Kamberaj was acquired by the team peramently. The double Albanian TT champion will be assigned to the flat/sprint department as the team is searching for more versatile roster.

Riccardo Ricco - OVL: 71.80
Key Stats: 75 MO, 73 HI, 74 FTR
Ricco, 2012 runner-up and former Giro, MSR, Wallonie and LBL winner among other accomplishments, came to the team from Isostar in a package with Kamberaj. Ricco, entering his twilight years, has been signed with the task of helping Panayotov in the mountains and Ricco has said that he'd relish his new role as he will wear the Italian NC jersey as a winner of the most recent national championships.

Riccardo Zoidl - OVL: 74.36
Key Stats: 75 MO, 73 HI, 76 TT
Not many riders are versatile as Riccardo Zoidl. Comming from Sauber Petronas team, Zoidl changes the scene for the first time in years. With his MO and TT stats as well as solid HI stat he's poised to partner both the mountain guys and being part of the TTT train as the team is looking to defend the Vilnius GP title.

Ramunas Navardauskas - OVL: 74.82
Key Stats: 75 HI, 76 TT, 77 PRL, 75 FL
Ramunas Navardauskas comes to the team from the Philips PCT team, but we had to say goodbye to Romain Bardet in the process in order to acqure his services. With the team also getting some hill focus and some races require great HI stat Navardauskas can come in handy. With strong sprint stats he can also be assigned to few flat races and as Lithuanian ITT NC he joins the team's TT core with main focus on his home race in Vilnius.

Enrico Battaglin - OVL: 72.93
Key Stats: 77 MO, 72 HI, 72 RES
Another veteran rider, Battaglin comes from the T-Mobile ProTour team. After spending most of his time in ProTour, Battaglin returns to the CT for the third time after last spending time in Philips-Continental's promotion campaign and the Italian veteran hopes he'll help another team score a position for promotion.

Meron Amanuel - OVL: 73.08
Key Stats: 75 HI, 73 STA, 71 ACC
In the final days of the transfer season, the team struck a last minute deal. For acquiring the services of the 29 y.o. ENI-MOL rider from Eritrea, the team had to trade away Charles Matte. Scoring just 25 points last season, this decision was questioned at some fronts, but his position will be mainly to be one of the team's puncheurs.

Troels Vinther - OVL: 72.84
Key Stats: 77 SPR, 77 REC, 74 ACC
However the team's front office made a miscalculations and the team fell over the salary cap. To free cap space and avoid penalty, Michael Vanderaerden sacrificed himself to help the team's bottom line and a trade was accepted for Valio's Troels Vinther. Vinther scored just 5 points last season, but a change of scenery may improve the Dane's fortunes as he'll be again part of the sprinting brigade.

The loan and free agent arrivals will come later.

With the 2019 MGUCI season almost kicking off, Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling finished transfer season. A total of 21 riders will enter the season riding for the team. But firstly the team needed a new bike supplier. After Argon 18's withdrawal from the MGUCI citing the additional homologation their bikes had to go trough, Adastra Cycling went searching for new supplier in time for the 2019 season.

After a long search, the team signed an agreement with Scott Sports to supply the team for the 2019 MGUCI. "We're pleased to announce that Scott will join Adastra - Hell Energy Cycling for the 2019 MGUCI season. We're pleased with the overall package they've provided in their bid and we're looking forward towards our new partnership." - said ivaneurope, CEO of Adastra Cycling Ltd. The Scott bid has beaten bids from BMC, Canyon and Cervelo with reports suggesting that Scott was the only manufacturer that promised them unconditional access to their latest models.

The team also announced partnerships with longtime partners - wheel supplier DT Swiss and helmet manufacturer Uvex. The team also secured sponsorship from NorthWave as their new footwear partner. The question is if their partnership with Campagnolo will continue and whether the Italian cycling company will appear on the Errea/Bioracer designed jersey is a decision that awaits MGUCI's decision.