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So what do you guys think? Good enough to stay another year in the PT?

Tinkoff is Kritskiy, Kritskiy is Tinkoff and although we have had riders with bigger salaries (like Trofimov), we definitely spent the most money on Kritskiy throughout the years: 5 million on salaries and 7 million on training!

Money well spent? Hell yeah, Kritskiy has been with us from the beginning (loaned out for one year in 2012 to Wiggle - San Pellegrino/rjc_43) and has grown a lot as a stage racer, see his stats evolution below.

So, 9 years ago we started the Tinkoff Project with mainly two sponsor goals: Elevating Russian cycling and trying to win a Grand Tour and boy oh boy we almost did it! Timofey Kritskiy had a very good winter/pre-season this year and his results were amazing leading up the the Vuelta a Espana; 3rd at Tour of East Java, winning Copenhagen - Malmo TTT and 6th at GP Liechtenstein.

The 2019 edition of the Vuelta started with a prologue: Rein Taaramäe was the fastest, with Kritskiy, Pluchkin and Tenorio only 1 second slower. The rest of the first week didn't create big gaps: Kritskiy was strongest of the favourites during Stage 5 (but no time gaps nor bonus seconds due to the breakaway), Taaramäe won Stage 6 (no time gaps but he did collect 20 bonus seconds) and he also won Stage 7 (this time Kritskiy lost 21 seconds and again Taaramäe gained 20 bonus seconds).

The second week again didn't create big gaps: Most of the stages were won by breakaway riders (no bonus seconds available for the favourites), just like the prologue Taaramäe also won Stage 10 - an individual time trial of 51km - and again Kritskiy was only 1 second slower, however Kritskiy was strongest of the favourites during Stage 12 (collecting 8 bonus seconds).

Cycling journalists were expecting fireworks for the last week of the Vuelta, but Taaramäe, Pluchkin and Kritskiy weren't able to deliver, instead the breakaways won most of the stages: Pluchkin was the strongest of the three during Stage 15 (Kritskiy lost 19 seconds to Taaramäe), Kritskiy was the strongest during Stage 16 (but no time gaps nor bonus seconds due to the breakaway), Kritskiy lost 18 seconds (and bonus seconds) to Taaramäe who won Stage 19 - an individual time trial of 34km, however Kritskiy ended the Vuelta with one of his best performance of his career; he won Stage 20 (gaining 21 seconds on Taaramäe plus bonus seconds). You can read the amazing report by Tamijo here.

Podium Vuelta a Espana 2019

Timofey Kritskiy winning Stage 20 of the Vuelta a Espana 2019

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In 2019 we signed Pavel Sivakov, who was loaned out to one of the most respected teams in the Man-Game: Eddie Stobart (sutty68) to gain eXPerience. Sivakov had a very good first season, especially riding the 3 week stage race Tour of America will help him becoming a future Stage Racer. His best performance was probably finishing 20th during Tour de l’Avenir, while supporting Alexander Vlasov (who finished 7th).

In 2017/2018 we signed Dmitry Strakhov as a stagiare and during the 2019 season he was loaned out to Bianchi - Campagnolo (Alepere_7) to gain eXPerience. Strakhov had a good continental season, his best performance was probably finishing 2nd in the KoM classification of the Benelux Challenge (49th GC). Dmitry was in the breakaway two days in a row during the Benelux Challenge, you can read both reports here; Stage 4 (cobble) and Stage 5 (hill).

In-house we are also developing some youngsters, all of them gained a XP level: Matvey Mamykin, Dmitry Trakhov, Alexander Vlasov and Aydar Zakarin.

Viktor Manakov might not be riding for Team Tinkoff - La Datcha in 2020, apparently for the right prize he is allowed to leave the team. He could be interesting for many teams: Training eligible, 28 years old and a salary of € 60,000.

Ultimate warrior Sergei Kolesnikov future is also uncertain at Team Tinkoff - La Datcha, apparently for the right prize he is allowed to leave the team. He could be interesting for many teams with a salary of just € 70,000.

We are very pleased to announce our first signing of the transfer window; Arman Kamyshev! Kamyshev was a rider without a contract after Air France - KLM didn't renew his contract. The Kazakh was one of our main targets this transfer season and we are very happy that he signed with us! Together with Senechal, Sulimov, Zubov and Manakov our cobble squad is ready for the Flanders Classics.

We are very pleased to announce our second signing of the transfer window; Moreno Moser! Moser used to ride for Euskaltel - Elior, but they decided to withdraw their sponsorship and were replaced by companies from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Moral principles and friendship with Malori made the Italian sign a contract with us and we are very happy to have him on our team! Together with Samolenkov he will lead our squad during the flat stages.

We are very pleased to announce our third signing of the transfer window; Mario Vogt! Vogt used to ride for Berg Cycles, but was looking for a new team after his contract didn't get extended. The German rider had some interest from other teams like Guave's Sunlight Cycling but luckily for us he choose to ride for Team Tinkoff - La Datcha coming season. Together with Chernetskiy, Trakhov and Strakhov he will lead our squad during the hilly stages.

We are very pleased to announce our fourth signing of the transfer window; Evgenii Tikhonin! Tikhonin is the youngest and biggest talent this year from Russia, so we had to sign him (yes not much from Russia lately; we are still waiting for the new Ignatiev/Trofimov/Gusev/etc.). He will ride for our team as a stagiare from August onwards and in all U23 events, since he is only 22 years old.

We are very pleased to announce our fifth signing of the transfer window; Julian Cardona! Cardona (23 years old) is a time trialist from Colombia, he will ride for our team as a stagiare from August onwards including the Tour de l'Avenir.

We are very pleased to announce our sixth signing of the transfer window; Joel Ponce! Ponce (23 years old) is a stage racer from Andorra, he will ride for our team as a stagiare from August onwards including the Tour de l'Avenir.