Viacheslav Ekimov fighting for Team Katusha’s UCI World Tour
Team Katusha General Manager, Viacheslav Ekimov is striving hard to get his team what it deserves, a UCI World Tour licence for the season ahead.
The team was left in a state of shock when UCI denied its application for World Tour status, despites its terrific performance in throughout the 2012 season.
Ekimov stated that he want the issue to be resolved quietly and does not intend to start a war however, he do not agrees with UCI, as to why the team has not granted permission to ride at the top most level of the sport.
The Russian team had an outstanding 2012 season as it managed to occupy the second overall position after the final team’s classifications with a total number of 1273 UCI points to its credit, Team Sky secured the top position with 1767 points.
Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver topped the Elite Men category with his individual total of 692 UCI points and also made a healthy addition towards the team’s total.
Oscar Freire (181 points), Alexandr Kolobnev (110 points), Daniel Moreno (104 points) and Simon Spilak (86 points) also rode brilliantly to help the team in securing the second overall position.
Team owner, Igor Makarov could not attend the official presentation ceremony earlier in Brescia and Ekimov had to answer all the media questions on his own.
"This is not a war against the system or the UCI, it's just an attempt to have out rights respected and get what we deserve," Ekimov noted.
"All our sponsors have confirmed their support because they know the team will continue for many years to come. We're going to do all we can to keep developing Russian cycling".
“The statement the UCI issued about their decision doesn't include anything new. There is talk of four doping cases but the truth is that the Kolobnev positive from last year's Tour de France was dismissed, so can't be taken into account," he concluded.
Team Katusha has now requested CAS to provide them with a solution and awaits response while UCI has suggested that the team should apply for a a professional continental licence for the new season.
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