Tinkoff manager puts team buses on the market for 500,000 Euro
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The most aggressive prize went to Alberto Contador (Tinkoff)(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) was the most aggressive rider(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alberto Contador tries to hold onto his podium position(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
With just a few races left before they fold, the Tinkoff Team are looking to go out with a bang rather than a whimper as they target Il Lombardia with Alberto Contador and top spot in the WorldTour rankings.
Movistar lead the current WorldTour rankings with 1411 points, while Tinkoff sit in second on 1277 points. Team Sky are third with 1187 and just two WorldTour races, Eneco Tour and the Tour of Lombardy, remaining.
“The perfect goodbye would be to finish top of the rankings and win our last WorldTour race with Alberto,’ Feltrin told Cyclingnews.
Contador recently finished fourth in the Vuelta a Espana and although he will ride for Trek-Segafredo next season, has vowed not to put his feet up until next month. Contador, not a typical one-day rider, has raced Lombardy three times with his best result - 9th - coming in 2012.
“The last race for us is Abu Dhabi but Lombardy is our last WorldTour event. At the moment Peter Sagan is doing well in Eneco and Alberto is training for Lombardy. Of course Movistar is well in front but we’re not going to give up. Mathematically we can still do it, and although they have a strong team, and the races suit them, we can do very well too. It’s not easy but it’s possible.”
With Tinkoff set to disband at the end of the season Feltrin finds himself taking stock both physically of the team’s equipment and emotionally after his three years on the team.
Rather than planning training camps and a roster for next season, Feltrin is pricing up the two team’s buses – worth he says 500,000 Euro as a pair - counting up the team’s fleet of smaller vehicles, and sending stock back to team partners. The Tinkoff service course is becoming a more desolate shell by the day but Felrtin is keeping his spirits up.
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“We’re selling everything that belongs to us and then sending the rest back to our partners. We’re selling vehicles, equipment and it’s a lot of stuff. I don’t know the value because that depends on the market value but we’ve only just done the inventory. When it comes to selling, you also have to consider that there are several teams doing to the same thing.”
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
