Grupo Nutresa factories and facilities are spread far and wide throughout the American continent. With continued growth of key brands into the European and Asian market, the future of the business is set for success.

Grupo Nutresa brands overview:

With due respect to Bikex, from whom I have copied some of my homework (we have quite similar calendars throughout the season!) - SN's twitter announcement of the start of the season being imminent has forced me to play catch up!

Quite simple to start with, tell me about Grupo Nutresa as a team?
Our key sponsor Grupo Nutresa is a multi-national conglomerate founded and based in Colombia. Grupo Nutresa is the umbrella holding company for many of Latin Americas most iconic food products and brands. In fact, Nutresa is the 4th largest food company in Latin America. What is most interesting about our partnership with Grupo Nutresa is their approach to sponsorship. As a company that has multiplied its market value 18 times over since 2000, with international sales of over $1 billion, the board of directors were looking for a vehicle to provide a common purpose and touchstone for a rapidly expanding workforce spread across Latin America and beyond. The company is also celebrating its 100 year anniversary in 2016, and wants to foster a strong community engagement and spirit across that workforce. Their first thought was to engage in football sponsorship, but that was turned down due to the partisanship that football engenders, and the difficulty of having one team represent activities across a continent. A chance business meeting enabled our team general manager Scorchio to propose the concept of a cycling team to (now retiring) Grupo Nutresa CEO Mr. Carlos Enrique Piedrahíta Arocha. He immediately bought into our vision for a cycling team with its roots across Latin America, and fully appreciates the opportunity that the team provides as a focus for every one of the company’s 31,650 employees. For instance every single person in the workforce is going to be issued with a replica cycling jersey, and all Grupo Nutresa and sit's subsiduaries delivery drivers will be being issued with uniforms that mirror the design of our new cycling kit, with similar strategic re-branding of the delivery fleet. We will strive to reflect Grupo Nutresa’s ethos of sustainable development, hardwork, persistence and dedication to the cause. We aim for promotion to the PCT to coincide with the company’s upcoming centenary celebrations in 2016.

I guess Colombia was a good idea at the time, but how do you now see it compared to the other number of new South American teams?
Obviously seeing a Scotsman as the general manager for a Colombian based cycling team is perhaps a little unusual. However it is obvious that major changes have been taking place over the last ten years in cycling with the emergence of the English speaking nations competing on a level playing field with the traditional cycling heartland countries in Western Europe. Continued globalisation of the sport will see this success spread to less developed cycling markets in Asia, Africa, and of course South and Central America. Following in the footsteps of legendary names such as Lucho Herrera and Fabio Parra, a new wave of Colombian cyclists lead by Milka-AVG pairing Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran is knocking on the door of the biggest prizes in cycling sport. However it is obvious that although Colombian racing cyclists are admired for their mountain climbing prowess, they are not being given the full opportunity to access and lead teams at the top level of our sport. With so many teams folding across the MG globe in 2013 as the financial crisis continues to bite, there was a great danger that Colombian and more widely, Latin American riders were going to find themselves on the professional scrapheap. Hence we are very pleased and proud of our own actions and those of our new competitors stepping forward to fill the void. A healthy but respectful competition environment across the new Latin American professional cycling community can only help grow the interest, engagement and support of the man on the street whether he be in Bogota, Mexico City, Santiago or Rio de Janiero to pay attention to this great sport that we all love.

And, let me say that I am not ducking away from the thrust of your questioning, it is pertinent to highlight that recent analysis conducted on behalf of the MG management committee has highlighted that the new growth in South American cycling is merely an expansion towards the necessary critical mass in South America that previously was lacking, thereby providing more and better opportunities for the emergence of the next crop of young cycling stars! Of course, it is true that a level of sensible cooperation within the competitive environment between the Latin American cycling teams will provide the best opportunity for us to all move forward presenting a competitive face in this global arena.

Transfer season isn't here yet but any key targets or plans?
Well of course, I would love to be able to outline plans to bring the likes of Uran, Henao and Duarte to our team, but that is not necessarily realistic for what is still a relatively small start-up organisation – those riders are in the prime of their career, and should rightly be gracing the stage at the Grand Tours and monument events. Instead we will be focussing on constructing a team of riders willing to commit to function as one single unit to the benefit of all. An obvious long-term focus is on the development of talented young local riders. This of course has to be married with the provision of experience and nous in the make-up of our rider compliment. The natural talent that Latin American racing cyclists exhibit in the mountains and hills will mean that that is an area of focus for the team. We also realise that it represents the cycling terrain that most gets the blood pumping of our target audience. However we will not be averse to looking further afield for riders that can bring unique facets to our project, particularly in ensuring that we are not just a one-trick pony waiting for the gradient to bite. I will confess however that I will be surprised if you see us engaging in many cobbled races in 2014 . That doesn’t mean that we will not be constantly striving to provide the most rounded cycling education and opportunity for our riders. As you will see, I have consciously avoided naming names. We are a new team on the block, and recognise that this will be our first experience of entering into the trade and free rider market. With so many hungry new entrants, and alternatively established teams with big budgets to throw around, it would be foolhardy to have our heart set on a particular rider to then end up disappointed. We want to focus on extracting the best value for money and spotting those market inequalities that provide us with the best opportunities. We are also extremely keen to establish a basis for long-term relationships with one or two of the larger cycling teams of the MG universe, which we believe is key to providing the development pathway and best opportunities for our young rider programme.

You're quite a new member to the site, 14/09/13, so why the Man-Game?
The Focus PCM product has always struck me as such a wasted opportunity (I had the opportunity to pick up PCM12 while convalescing in bed for a week having not seen the game since 07, and once more came away frustrated and thinking What if?... and If only! ). It was only then that I stumbled upon pcmdaily and latterly the Man-Game. The Man-Game takes the bones of that opportunity that we all recognise is there in a PCM-like interface, and converts the potential into this excellent cycling community. I think the community aspect is something that comes across very strongly, and I find very appealing. Of course there are many other drivers, my love of cycling, aspiration for what interactive games can offer (I am even old enough to remember play-by-mail gaming before the rise of the internet, and I think the Man-Game captures that early spirit), and a rebalancing of various things going on in my real world life. Practically, I need something to use as a relief valve from the pressures and stresses of my day job. Et voila, here we are!

Henry Cardenas recently appointed head DS at the new Colombian team on the block sat down with our reporter Hector Rodriguez for a quick Q&A session to provide some insight into the thinking at Grupo Nutresa CT.
Q: Can you outline what we can expect from the new equipe, Grupo Nutresa?
A: Well Hector, that’s hard to say exactly at this stage as we are yet to enter the transfer and free agency window. Along with the other staff members, we have been having extensive and exhausting meeting with general manager Scorchio, outlining various different recruitment strategies and race calendars to respond to the uncertain picture we currently face. What has become clear is that our number 1 recruitment target for 2014 will be a leading puncheur.
Q: Have you a short-list of riders that you will be targeting for this position?
Carlos Betancourt is the rider we dream of fulfilling this role for us, he is the seen as the central piece in the Grupo Nutresa jigsaw. The whole management team realise that Carlos is an extremely high quality rider for a brand new CT team to be aspiring after, but we are ready to break the bank to have him lead our 2014 campaign. Obviously it is hoped that uncontested team leadership on a squad from his home country with ample support from a willing cadre of domestiques will entice him to join our new set-up. Although we do have alternative names in mind if Carlos cannot be persuaded, we have no qualms about identifying him as our primary target.
Q: Well, best of luck with that, however one rider does not make a team, how do you see the make-up of the rest of the squad?
We also have confidence that we will have an excellent stable of mountain goats that can bring us success in the highest peaks of course is the Colombian heritage! Our general manager Scorchio has identified that we also have to broaden our horizons and give consideration to competing on other terrains. Keen to bring experience and guile to our organisation, we share a strong admiration for the talents of Milka – AVG rider Juan Pablo Forero; considered by many to be Colombia’s top road sprinter. If we can tempt him to step down from the PT to CT level, he will provide an excellent lead sprinter for our organisation. We would be keen to maximise JP’s winning opportunities by recruiting an able deputy that can also act as lead out. We have a number of feelers out, and are confident that we have a number of options available.
Q: How about rider development Henry, will there be opportunities for new young riders at Grupo Nutresa?
A: Of course Hector, providing the right opportunities for young riders from Colombia, and across Latin America is one of our founding principles. We will be giving the brightest and best young talent all the support and opportunities they can wish for. My colleague Hernan Dario Munoz will be responsible for focussing on young rider development. Having only hung up his wheels a couple of years ago, Hernan will still command respect from the younger generation; my own palmares is probably too far in the dim and distant past to be of much interest to young whippersnappers! I’m confident though that Hernan will still be kicking ass on training rides and camps, as he’s still as fit as the day he stopped riding professionally. Combined with his excellent coaching credentials Hernan is perfectly suited for his role, being tasked with overseeing young rider development.
Q: Any final thoughts for our readers Henry?
A: We look forward to this new journey we are embarking on and hope that we will excite the fans on the road-side with an aggressive racing style. Oh, and we are still inviting CV’s from any interested cycling talent looking for a berth on our squad in 2014 .