Denis Nikolayevich Menchov finally signs up with the Russian squad, Katusha
Russian cycling star, Denis Nikolayevich Menchov has finally decided to ride with Andrei Tchmil’s team, Katusha, for the coming season.
Menchov started his professional career with Team Banesto in 2000 and stayed with the team till 2004.
He then joined Team Rabobank from 2005 to 2010 before moving to Team Geox-TMC in 2011.
He has participated in a total number of 3 Giro’s, 10 Tour de France and 6 Vuelta a Espana grand tours throughout his career.
The 33-year-old finished at the 47th position at his first Tour de France in 2001. His four top Tour performances were in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010 as he secured the 11th, 5th, 4th and 3rd positions,
respectively.
Denis won the Giro d’Italia 2009, along with two Vuelta a Espana General Classifications victories in 2005 and 2007.
Denis had a remarkable season with Team Geox as he finished 3rd overall at the Vuelta a Murcia and 8th overall at the Giro d’Italia 2011.
He finished 5th overall at the Vuelta and the Tour of Austria 2011 during the one-year period spent with Team Geox.
Denis was left with no other option but to find a new home for himself after Team Geox-TMC announced its demise from the sport by the end of 2011.
Finding a new team was not a big problem for the cyclist, as he had enough victories to his credit to make room in any side.
Menchov commented on joining Team Katusha, “I am very glad to join Katusha. I have been looking forward to it for a long time, and I always regarded it as the right step for me and my career. I very much appreciate what Mr. Makarov is doing for Russian cycling.
In return, I’d like to contribute as much as I can to the Russian global cycling project as well as to regaining to Russia its leading positions in world sport”.
Denis was in the process of joining Team Katusha for his 2010 season but the agreement could not be finalised between Tchmil and the cyclist.
He will now ride along Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver, Alexander Kristoff, Oscar Freire, Marco Haller and many other star riders in the Katusha squad.
Tags: