Welcome to the HQ of Novatek-Panarmenian.net, which is entering its second season in PCT this season. This thread will be used for regular updates on the team, just like last season. Oh wait not like last year.
Just like last year, our main sponsors will be Novatek, an independent Russian gas producer with its headquarters in the town of Tarko-Sale, somewhere in the Siberian middle of nowhere. Its revenues of last year were at 6.9 billion USD, and it had a profit of 227.8 million USD. Sponsoring us therefore isn't much of a risk.
Other main sponsor of this season will be Armenian news site Panarmenian.net. It was the first online news agency of Armenia, and currently publishes its contents in not only Armenian, but also in English and Russian.
Sponsor overview
Main sponsors
Novatek, Panarmenian.net
Minor sponsors
Intourist, Selev
Bike supplier
Giant
Wheels supplier
Lightweight
Helmets supplier
Selev
Shirt supplier
Craft
Team car supplier
Lada
With the help of these sponsors this kit has been designed by the fantastic shirtmaker Bikex, who made an all-new, fantastic kit for most of our riders to ride in this season. The shirts for the national champions are below
Thought it was finally time to post my HQ. A transfer center will be set up later to give more details on the availability of riders. Do keep in mind that all riders available will need a good offer to be sold
@Tamijo: Thanks, after one season it still looks great so no reason to change
Transfer Overview
In an entertaining transfer season it's needless to say we've had our activity as well. Below you'll find an overview of what happened.
Out
Even before transfers had started we have said goodbye to some riders, while some were sold later on.
Janez Brajkovic
Janez joined us last year on a very high wage to lead us in the mountaineous races. However, age had struck him and we felt that it would be too expensive to continue with him. We still want to thank him for his service last year.
Fabian Cancellara
The same goes for this legend. Winner of many major races, he joined to lead us on flatter cobbles and time trials. He brought us some wins and so we were very pleased to have him. Now it's time to move on though.
Jan Barta
Jan will always have a place in our hearts. With his third place in 2015 Züri-Metzgete he sealed the CT title for us. He now felt the time was right to leave cycling for a while and we wish him the best of luck in the future.
Sergey Rudaskov
Another ageing rider to leave us. In his two years on the team he always showed his value as a domestique in the mountains. Since he didn't find a new team this year, a career switch seems likely.
Samir Jabrayilov
Samir rode for us as a stagiare only. Who knows, he might find a new team this season as he's still very young.
Vitor Rodrigues
Vitor was another quality signing last year, with a 3rd place in Táchira as highlight. We sold him back to the team where he won the individual CT crown, and we wish him the best of luck there.
Varsham Darbinyan
The greatest Armenian talent will once again leave us on a loan deal. For Team Reddit he'll be showing himself at the CT level.
Mihran Avetisyan
Mihran will try to gain some experience at the higher level. At the PT team Nemiroff-ABBYY he'll ride at the same team as Pluchkin, so no doubt he'll learn a lot.
Mamyr Stash
The young Russian will ride for Goldcorp this season, also at CT. He'll ride in the lead-out train as it seems right now.
In
Fabio Duarte
He signed his contract very late into transfers, but we're glad he did so. The Colombian will be our mountains leader for this season.
Dan Holloway
Dan has showed great things in the past in the PT. This year, he takes a step down to ride for us. We hope he'll do very well for us in the sprints in this division.
Michael Ford
With the departure of Cancellara, Michael will be our definite time trial champion. Down Under he rode some great TTs for his team.
Domenik Klemme
The German will co-lead us in the hillier races, along with Blel. No doubt he'll do well for us since he showed he's outgrown the lower CT.
Francesco Gavazzi
The Italian joined us on a silent auction. He'll show himself as lead-out this season, while also trying to help out in the hillier terrains.
Nikolay Trusov
For Nikolay it's simple this season: he'll be lead-out as well. With Aleksandr and Dan we have two quality sprinters, so one quality lead-out is not enough.
Maxim Pokidov
Maxim can basically do anything. Except cobbles. He hates those.
Peeter Tarvis
The Estonian will join us as a talent. On the flatter terrains he'll probably have the same role as Kuznetsov has right now, which is a very valuable one.
Andrei Strelkov
The young Russian joins as stagiare, which means he'll mainly ride U23 races.
Samir Jabrayilov
Yes you have seen that name before. After leaving after renewals, he's back as a stagiare now. He'll ride a similar program as last year.
Felix Grosschartner
The young Austrian is on loan from Spar, and will help us in the mountains this year.
Kevin Eeckhout Dan Holloway Zhihui Jiang Vyacheslav Kuznetsov Kirill Pozdnyakov Peeter Tarvis Nikolai Trusov Julien Vermote
Our first race of the season will immediately one where we can go for a good result. Our new top sprinter Dan Holloway will be a good candidate to win. With Trusov, Kuznetsov, Vermote and others the lead-out train should be very strong as well, so things are looking good for us here.
[C1] Tour Down Under
Francesco Gavazzi Blel Kadri Domenik Klemme Maxim Pokidov Frantisek Rabon Aleksandr Serebriakov Chu Thien Sinelobov Peeter Tarvis
With an almost completely different squad we have our other January race in Australia, and in fact our only other January race at all. It's hard to estimate our chances for this race, but with Domenik and Blel we have two riders who are very much suited to this terrain. With last year's sprinting field Aleksandr might even have some chances for a sprint win as well. The team depth looks very nice as well. Gavazzi, Pokidov, Rabon and Sinelobov are all not afraid of climbing.
Tour de Pologne
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
GP Herning
SAA Tour d'Afrique
Qatar Oil Mountain Classic
Tour de Romandie
Rakhon Natchasima Trophy
Betonexpressz GP
Scandinavia Open Road Race
Olympia's Tour
Tour of Norway
Costa Rican Mountain Classic
Lincoln GP
Lac Megantic Classic
Tour de Slovénie
Kenya Mountain Classic
Clásica San Sebastian
Tour of Japan
Barbados Cycling Classic
Tour of East Java
