As part of its push to develop its cycling brand and raise awareness that its products extend beyond the motorbike market, the KTM company will come on board as main sponsor of the Greek/Spanish Heraklion Kastro-Murcia team in 2011.
The Continental squad will be renamed KTM-Murcia, as will the Elite/U23 feeder team which was last year named Inverse-Murcia.
Six riders from the Heraklion Kastro-Murcia setup will be part of the Continental squad in 2011, namely Jaume Rovira, Javier Chacón, Héctor Gónzalez, Oscar García-Casarrubios, Salvador Guardiola and Rafael Serrano. There will also be others who raced as Elite riders this seaosn, including José María Alcáraz (Inverse Murica in 2010) and Jose Antonio Carrasco, who competed with the Andalucía-Cajasur UCI Pro-continental team in 2009.
Up until now, the cycling end of KTM’s business has been focussed more on the MTB end of things, but having the team’s riders astride its bikes in European races will underline that it also produces road frames.
The Heraklion-Murcia team begin five years ago as Grupo Nicolás Mateos-Murcia, and lined out in the 2009 Veulta a España as the Contentpolis-AMPO-Murcia squad. It changed its orientation in 2010, recovering after some sponsors left to become a Continental team.
The management signed former Tour de France contender Francesco Mancebo and picked up several wins, including Mancebo’s time trial victory and overall success in the Tour de la Guadeloupe, plus other team triumphs such as two stages in the Tour de Beauce and two in the Vuelta a Venezuela.
“Five of my riders managed eleven victories,” said manager Jose Antonio Ortuño. “We raced in different places around the world. It was a very enriching and rewarding experience. In this way we increase our development and we are known in many countries.”
He said that one of the team’s big goals is to continue developing its competitors, and to chase wins. “We have some promising young riders, and will also incorporate two sprinters. Our aspirations will continue to grow, especially with the extra motivation that representing KTM Bikes Industries gives us.”
Ortuño said that he wanted some of the winners from last season - Rafael Serrano, Héctor González, Oscar García-Casarrubios and Javier Chacón – to keep improving. He added that there would be several Greek competitors on board, some of whom are strong track riders.
The team indicated to VeloNation that races in Portugal, Spain and Greece are of particular importance in 2011. It plans to race in the Vuelta a Murcia, as well as hoping to return to the races it took victories in this year.