home–Jack & Jones Memory Card–Jack & Jones CSC–Tiscali Team CSC CSC–Saxo Bank Team Saxo Bank Saxo Bank–SunGard Team Saxo Bank Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank Saxo–Tinkoff Tinkoff–Saxo Tinkoff
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Tinkoff (UCI team code:TNK)[7] was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia. It competed in the UCI World Tour. The team was owned by Russian Oleg Tinkov and, from 1999 until March 2015, was managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis. The team was sponsored by the Russian Tinkoff Bank, a credit systems company.[8]
Founded in 1998 as home-Jack & Jones, the team started in cycling's second division. In 2000 it moved into the top division, now known as the UCI World Tour. Since 2000, under differing sponsor names (Memory Card-Jack & Jones and CSC-Tiscali), the team rode the Tour de France. It has won the overall classification in all three of the Grand Tours. In the 2008 Tour de France, Carlos Sastre won the general classification, Andy Schleck won the young rider classification, and the team won the overall team classification, and Ivan Basso won the 2006 Giro d'Italia, as well as finishing third and second in the 2004 and 2005 Tour de France. In addition, the team has won many major classics, including 6 Monuments.
The team won the UCI ProTour's team classification each year from 2005 through 2007, and the team classification in the 2010 UCI World Ranking.
In March 2015 the team confirmed that Riis had been removed from active duty due to differences between Riis and Tinkov. Media reports had initially indicated that Riis had been suspended when he did not appear at the 2015 Milan–San Remo as planned, and that this was due to a disappointing start to the season for the team.[9] His departure from the team was officially announced on 29 March.[10]
When Bjarne Riis took over in winter 2000, he hired the former Danish Ranger Corps soldier B.S. Christiansen as advisor and they gave CSC a distinct philosophy and training methods.[11] The team works with four values: communication, loyalty, commitment and respect, with the aim of improving teamwork.[12] The team rides for the rider in the best shape on the day, and separates the function of team captain (the rider making decisions) and team leader (the rider trying to win) to avoid pressure on a single rider.[13]
The team staff go on yearly outdoor education trips, physical challenges under pressure. According to B.S. Christiansen, the camps teach people "that they can achieve their goals by cooperating. They have to perform their very best under the worst possible circumstances, where every action has a consequence".[14]Bobby Julich, one of the riders, said that "those days in the bush bonded us much closer and given [sic] us the strategies to work as a team in any racing situation".[15]
