Our team's main sponsor for the next two seasons is the swiss bank giant, UBS. Obviously, UBS is quite a wealthy company and is cycling team also is. The budget they give us is really high. However, high budget also means high expectations. Being from Switzerland, UBS wants its team to dominate on Swiss and other races taking places near or even in the Alps.
To be represented properly, the sponsor want to have riders from Switzerland, Italy and Austria. The important races for UBS are Tour de Romandie, Tour de Suisse and Österreich Ründfhart.
The secondary sponsor for this year will be the swiss watch giant, Rolex. The sponsor, who's on a 1-year trial, will help us gaining a bit more money to spend on our riders. However, Rolex doesn't want to invest as much as UBS for this season at least. Earning less money from this sponsor, its objectives will be less important for us, but we would still try to respect them. The important region for Rolex is Switzerland and France. The main objectives are Tour de Romandie, Tour de Suisse and Tour de France.
We have the chance to have a contract with the great italian company Bianchi that will be our equipment provider until 2016. This sponsorship means a lot to us because Bianchi is well known for its quality bikes. It's a company that have been involve in professionnal cycling for a very long time and its experience will be important for us. Italy is the important region for Bianchi. The important races are Giro di Lombardia, Milan Sanremo and Giro d'Italia.
Team UBS-Rolex is starting to take form. Yesterday, the team announced the signature of their first 6 riders, and 6 great riders they are.
First of all, the signature of the strongest rider of the peloton, Fabian Cancellara was a huge one for the team. With Spartacus, UBS-Rolex have a rider that will finish in the top of the ProTour standings by winning (we hope) a lot of classics like Milan Sanremo and the Flanders classics. Also, the sponsor is delighted to have the most popular swiss rider in the world right now. Objectives:Milan Sanremo, Gent-Wevelgem, E3, RVV, Paris-Roubaix, Eneco-Tour.
The second signature was also a big one. UBS-Rolex is very proud to count the two time Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner, Alexandre Vinokourov. The Khazak is a very important part of our team because he's going to be our leader for the Ardennaises, Tour de France and Giro di Lombardia. Vino will also be a good model for our young riders. We hope and will get us some important points and a victory in the Ardennaises. Objectives:Paris-NiceArdennaises, Tour de France, Giro di Lombardia
The Cobble Classics being a big goal for our team, we had to find a rider that can stay with the best to help Cancellara and maybe take his place as a leader if something happens to Spartacus. This rider will be Alessandro Ballan, the greatest italian cobbles specialist. He will concentrate his season on the Flanders classics but will also try to get a Stage win in the Tour de France and a good result at Classica San Sebastian. Objectives:Cobbles, Tour de France, Classica San Sebastian
The next signature is one we are really happy about. When we saw the Domenico Pozzovivo was still available, we jumped on the occasion and signed him. He is to us the most underestimated athlete in the peloton. Pozzo is one of the best climbers out there and he will prove it being our leader for the Giro and the Tour de Suisse. His climbing skills are incredible and we believe that they can minimise the impact of his lack of TT skills. Objectives: Giro del Trentino, Giro d'Italia, Tour de Suisse
The latest signature we made was the swiss puncher, Oliver Zaugg. We believe that the winner of the 2012 Giro di Lombardia can be a very usefull helper for Vinokourov in classics and the Tour de France. He will also be our leader for Tirreno-Adriatico where we believe he can make a very good result. Finally, he can be a good outsider for the Giro di Lombardia and we hope he'll be able to help Vino or even win it again. Objectives: Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour de France, Giro di Lombardia
