The UCI is penalising the way pro riders race, according to Alex Dowsett.
Katusha-Alpecin
Switzerland | Team website
During its first few seasons after a debut in 2009, the Katusha squad was a motley assortment of underachieving Russians, plus Joaquim Rodríguez and Alexander Kristoff, who covered the dysfunction of the team with a veneer of very respectable placings and wins.
With Rodríguez retiring at the end of 2016, the team’s Grand Tour hopes have now switched to home-grown talent Ilnur Zakarin. The Russian has been building up an impressive palmares, not least a stage win in the 2016 Tour de France.
A change of name to Katusha-Alpecin, and a change of country of registration from Russia to Switzerland for 2017 saw the team take on a more international flavour.
The squad should be able to count on time trial world champion Tony Martin – signed from Etixx-QuickStep – to produce his usual selection of victories against the clock.
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Only two Katusha-Alpecin riders may have finished Strade Bianche, but the team wins the prize for best video from a brutal edition of the Italian race.
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Marcel Kittel: ‘We saw where our mistakes were and what we have to do better’
The German sprinter says his new team are calm about failing to take a win in their first race, with an eye on rectifying it at the Abu Dhabi Tour
Marcel Kittel pictured in 2018 Katusha-Alpecin kit
German sprinter Marcel Kittel and British time trial specialist Alex Dowsett in Katusha-Alpecin's new blue-and-red kit for 2018
Alex Dowsett relishing chance of Marcel Kittel lead-out role with Katusha in 2018
Chance to help sprint train central to Katusha-Alpecin move for Essex TT star
Alexander Kristoff says Tour of Britain frustrations sum up his season
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Ian Boswell to leave Team Sky to join Katusha-Alpecin for 2018
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Alexander Kristoff wins RideLondon-Surrey Classic
Norwegian Alexander Kristoff pays back his Katusha-Alpecin team's hard work with victory in London
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