- Cycle Collstrop
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Cycle Collstrop Team information UCI code COS Based 
NetherlandsDisbanded 2008 Status Professional Continental Key personnel General manager Koen Terryn Directeur sportif Jacques Hanegraaf 
Jersey Cycle Collstrop (UCI Team Code: COS) was a Swedish UCI Professional Continental cycling team. It was the successor to Unibet.com, which was mainly sponsored by the online gambling website Unibet.com and as a continuation of the MrBookmaker.com cycling team. The team rode on the European Continental Circuit, until the beginning of the 2007 season, when they were granted a ProTour licence.[1] In 2008, they were awarded a Professional Continental licence. The new team was led by Steffen Wesemann, and problems previously experienced through having had sponsorship from a betting company were avoided with new sponsorship from a wooden flooring company.
Unibet.com had also been drawn into the Operación Puerto doping investigation. The cyclist Carlos Quesada was named by the Spanish authorities as a patient of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes and was suspended by the team [2]. Although Quesada had been named, he has not yet been formally charged with doping, which led to the management of Unibet.com to lift its suspension of Quesada two weeks after it was imposed.[3] Nevertheless, the team did not pay the Spanish cyclist his salary, which led to a lawsuit, finally resolved with Quesada leaving the team in exchange for a compensation.
The team, whose sponsors have pulled out of cycling, failed to submit its application for renewal by the 20 November 2007 deadline and did not be take part in the 2008 UCI ProTour.[4] Many of the team members went to the newly formed team Vacansoleil.
Contents
Dispute with race organisers
Despite obtaining a ProTour license for the 2007 season, Unibet.com were not granted entry in Paris–Nice, the inaugural race of the series. The organiser of the French race, Amaury Sport Organisation, argued that French law bans gambling companies (except for Française des Jeux and PMU, as well as some casinos). Nevertheless, Unibet.com took part in the French races GP La Marseillaise and Étoile de Bessèges with special jerseys without their sponsor's name.
RCS also snubbed Unibet.com for the Tirreno–Adriatico, explaining that Italian gambling law required a special license for Unibet. However, as the Unibet.com management pointed out, Unibet did have the license, while Predictor-Lotto's sponsor (the Belgian national lottery) did not, but the Belgian squad was allowed to race on Italian soil. RCS further contradicted themselves when they later invited Unibet.com to Milan – San Remo in which Jeremy Hunt was their best rider, finishing in 17th place, ahead of former winners such as Filippo Pozzato or Paolo Bettini.
However, Unibet.com was not chosen to ride in any of the three Grand Tours.
2007 ProTeam
Major results
- 1st, Nationale Sluitingprijs, (Gorik Gardeyn)
- 1st, GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, (Jeremy Hunt)
- 1st, Stage 3, Tour Down Under, (Baden Cooke)
- 1st, Le Samyn, (Jimmy Casper)
- 1st, General classification, Record Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, (Jimmy Casper)
- 1st, Points classification, Record Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, (Jimmy Casper)
- 1st, Stage 1, Record Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, (Jimmy Casper)
- 1st, General classification, Tour of Ireland, ((Stijn Vandenbourgh))
- 1st, Mountains classification, Volta a Catalunya, (Luis Pasamontes)
- 1st, Stage 8, Tour de Suisse, (Rigoberto Uran)
Final Roster
Name Birthdate Nationality Team 2007 Team 2009 Borut Božič 8. August 1980 
SloveniaTeam L.P.R. Vacansoleil Tom Criel 6. June 1983 
BelgiumUnibet.com Topsport Vlaanderen Bas Giling 4. November 1982 NetherlandsWiesenhof-Felt Team Designa Køkken Michał Gołaś 29. April 1984 
PolandUnibet.com Amica Chips-Knauf Sergey Kolesnikov 3. September 1986 
RussiaUnibet.com Moscow David Kopp 5. January 1979 
GermanyTeam Gerolsteiner Elite 2 Sergey Lagutin 14. January 1981 
UzbekistanNavigators Insurance Cycling Team Vacansoleil Marco Marcato 11. February 1984 
ItalyTeam L.P.R. Vacansoleil Lucas Persson 16. March 1984 
SwedenUnibet.com Continental Team Capinordic Matthé Pronk 1. July 1974 NetherlandsUnibet.com Vacansoleil Sergey Rudaskov 6. August 1984 RussiaNeo-pro Elite 2 Mirko Selvaggi 11. February 1985 ItalyNeo-pro Amica Chips-Knauf Raynold Smith 20. November 1985 
South AfricaEx-Pro (Fondas Imabo 2005) Elite 2 Gil Suray 29. August 1984 BelgiumUnibet.com Roubaix - Lille Metropole Kenny Van Der Schueren 20. July 1982 BelgiumUnibet.com Continental Palmans-Cras Troels Vinther 24. February 1987 
DenmarkUnibet.com Team Capinordic Steffen Wesemann 11. March 1971 
SwitzerlandWiesenhof-Felt Retired External links
References
- ^ Stokes, Shane (2006-12-15). "Unibet in, Saiz out, ProTour place still possible for Astana". Cyclingnews.com. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/dec06/dec16news. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
- ^ Quesada temporarily suspended
- ^ Quesada to compete again
- ^ uciprotour.com
Categories:- Defunct cycling teams
- Cycling teams based in the Netherlands
- Sports clubs disestablished in 2008
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