Polartec-Kometa 2018, three teams for the dream of the Alberto Contador Foundation
The Alberto Contador Foundation presented today in Pinto (Madrid) its fifth cyclist project with three teams under the same name, Polartec-Kometa, name shared by the Continental, U23 and Junior teams, whith a total of 38 cyclists.
Alberto Contador also adds this year a friend and former teammate, Ivan Basso, at the head of the professional team, while Kometa joins Polartec to give financial support to this whole project that grows a little more each year, always with the aim to offer young cyclists the chance to realize their dream of running in a professional team at the highest level.
Alberto Contador said today that his ambition is “not only to help our rideres to be professionals, but also to help them to grow as person, transmitting our principles of honesty, teamwork and sacrifice, an ideal that we also share with our sponsors”.
For his part, Ivan Basso said that the Polartec-Kometa project “has a promising future that needs all of you, riders, technicians and sponsors to move forward. We are like a family that work together to make this dream possible”.
Gary Smith, president of Polartec, congratulated himself today for fulfilling “the third year within this project. The mission of the Contador Foundation is incredible, both for cycling and the fight against stroke and, of course, the people in charge of it, Alberto and Fran Contador, Ivan Basso and Giacomo Pedranzini. We are still manufacturers of fabrics, in a business that never ends and in which there is always something to learn to keep improving. These three years have gone by very quickly, but I hope that we will continue in at least another three more years”.
The president of Kometa, Giacomo Pedranzini, made an intervention in which he said that his commitment to the project of the Contador Foundation and cycling “is due to the commitment to the health of a company dedicated to make food and to offer healthy, good tasting and affordable products. We are responsible to the new generations and, together with food, we know that sport is the activity that most influences the health. We want to promote a healthy diet and an active lifestyle”. Pedranzini added that he especially likes “the uniqueness of this project, the inspiration of Alberto and Ivan and also to support the other activities of the Foundation, such as Bikes for Life. We want to do something good for the society”.
At the Francisco Rabal Municipal Theater, in Pinto, 37 of the 38 riders that make up the Polartec- Kometa teams (Continental, U23 and Junior) were presented today. Only missed, due to bureaucratic problems with his visa, the Eritrean Awet Habtom, which will be incorporated throughout this month of February. At the head of them were its directors, Guillermo Gutiérrez (Junior), Rafa Díaz Justo (Under 23), Dario Andriotto and Jesús Hernández (Continental), as well as Félix García Casas as technical coordinator of all categories, including the Plaza Éboli Cycling School.
The Continental team, which yesterday finished its debut race in the Vuelta a Valencia, will travel tomorrow to France to continue its calendar in the Tour of Provence and Haut Var. The U-23 will soon make their debut at the San Roma Memorial and the juniors will make it at the end of the month at the Guadiana Circuit (Don Benito-Extremadura).
Polartec-Kometa Continental
Michele Gazzoli y Matteo Moschetti (Italia), Patrick Gamper (Austria), Michel Ries (Luxemburgo), Awet Habtom (Eritrea), Kevin Inkelaar (Holanda), Wilson Peña (Colombia), Diego Pablo Sevilla, Juan Camacho, Isaac Cantón y Miguel Ángel Ballesteros (España).
Sport directors: Jesús Hernández y Dario Andriotto (Italia)
Polartec-Kometa Under 23
Tomeu Gelabert, Alejandro Ropero, Jorge Pastor, Daniel Viegas (Portugal), Sergio Hernández, Juan Pedro López, Daniele Cantoni (Italia), Hugo Sampedro, Sergio García, Joan Martí Bennassar , Carlos García, José Antonio García, Alejandro Regueiro y Wesley Mol (Holanda).
Sport director: Rafael Díaz Justo
Polartec-Kometa Junior
Luis Miguel Mendoza, Javier Serrano, Miguel Patiño, Alex Martín, Joan Marc Campos, Juan José Rosal, Manuel Garrido, Carlos Rodríguez, Manuel Jesús Carrellán, Iván Oliver, Alejandro Piquero y Daniel Lopes (Portugal).
Sport director: Guillermo Gutiérrez
