The Pro Continental team announced its 2017 roster, which includes 15 returning riders and seven new additions from the folding Tinkoff team and from Katusha, which switched its registration from Russian to Swiss for next year.
Along with Brutt, former Tinkoff riders Nikolay Trusov and Ivan Rovny will join the team, while 2016 Vuelta a Espana stage winner Sergey Lagutin will come aboard from Katusha, as will Alexander Porsev, Dmitry Kozonchuk and Alexey Tsatevich.
Brutt, who rode with Katusha for six years before returning to Tinkoff in 2015, said RusVelo would start a new chapter in his career.
"I am very happy that I’ll be a part of this team," he said. "They spent a great season and it looks like Gazprom-RusVelo is on the right track. I hope that I will have a chance to bring the team to victory, and it’s going to be a successful season."
Director Renat Khamidulin said the team tried to reach a balance between youth and experience while building the 2017 roster.
"Professional cycling has changed dramatically, and there is no place for a mistake today," Khamidulin said. "Every small thing could have an impact on the final result. In this situation we want to set up the system of knowledge transfer from experienced guys to young riders. I believe that it will help us to reach our goals for the next season."
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On the same day the team released the 2017 roster, Gazprom-RusVelo also announced a four-year agreement with the title sponsor, a Russian natural gas provider.
"Support and development of Russian sports is one of the most important social tasks of Gazprom," said Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov. "This agreement provides an impetus to further professional progress of young and talented Russian cyclists. I am confident that they will represent our country on the international sports arena with due dignity."
Gazprom-RusVelo will be the only team representing Russia in cycling's top-level international contests in 2017, as well as the only team in professional cycling that is composed entirely of Russian riders.
Gazprom-RusVelo 2017 roster: Ildar Arslanov, Igor Boev, Pavel Brutt, Artur Ershov, Aydar Zakarin, Dmitry Kozonchuk, Sergey Lagutin, Roman Maikin, Sergey Nikolaev, Artem Nych, Artem Ovechkin, Alexander Porsev, Ivan Rovny, Alexey Rybalkin, Ivan Savitskiy, Kirill Sveshnikov, Andrey Solomennikov, Nikolay Trusov, Sergey Firsanov, Alexander Foliforov, Alexey Tsatevich, Evgeny Shalunov.
Matej Mohoric claims first professional win at Tour of Hainan
Lampre-Merida's Matej Mohoric enjoyed the first professional victory of his career on stage 6 of the Tour of Hainan. The 22-year-old finished ahead of teammate Przemyslaw Niemiec and Astana's Alexey Lutsenko who now leads the race overall with Mohoric second at just three seconds.
"I'm very happy for having obtained my first victory in a stages race," said 2012 junior world champion, and 2013 U23 world champion Mohoric. "I was fine, on the final climb I managed my energies and in the downhill I bridged the gap from the leading riders. I was with Niemiec, we exploited our cooperation for winning the stage. Thanks to the team and to Niemiec, today resulted to be a perfect day."
Mohoric is in his first season with the Italian Lampre-Merida team following two seasons with the Cannondale, then Cannondale - Garmin squad. With three stages to come, Mohoric appears likely to record his best general classification result to date.
New name and riders at Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise in 2017
Belgian Pro-Continental team Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise have announced it will be known as Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise from the 2017 season. The team also revealed it will have 22-riders on its books for the coming year.
Piet Allegaert, Lindsay De Vylder, Benjamin Declercq, Kevin Deltombe, Christophe Noppe and Edward Planckaert are the new arrivals at the team. Three riders have left the team with two moving to the WorldTour, Floris De Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Tim Declercq (Etixx-QuickStep), while Pieter Vanspeybroeck moves across to fellow Pro-Continental team Wanty - Groupe Gobert.
For the Cyclingnews guide to 2016-2017 rider transfers, click here
Pablo Lastras returns to Movistar to take up new sporting role
In 2015, Pablo Lastras retired after a 18-year career suffering effects from a crash in the Volta a Catalunya where he fractured his pelvis but will return to the sport with Movistar in a new sporting role.
"As the recovery process ended, Eusebio called me here," Lastras said of the last 19-months. "I decided to come, listen to what they'd tell me, put my ideas into order and take this choice. I want to do things here that really excite me, and return everything that cycling gave me during my whole life. I've spent 21 years at this team that I really love, and it's a challenge to fulfil that role.
"I've got to keep offering everything that I have in store, to repay the team for their support."
The full Movistar team are in the midst of its first training camp for the upcoming 2017 season with further announcements regarding its team set up for next year expected.
