Team: Katusha
WorldTour ranking: 2nd (Up from 6th in 2014)
Win Count: 40 (Up from 25)
Top riders: Joaquim Rodriguez (ranked 2nd), Alexander Kristoff (ranked 4th), Simon Spilak, Daniel Moreno, Ilnur Zakarin
After a 2014 season that was saved by the rampant Alexander Kristoff, Katusha nearly doubled their win tally in 2015 and put themselves third in the victory standings, with all of their key riders hitting the mark.
Kristoff was once again on song, with 15 wins in his back pocket before the end of May, including a monument at the Tour of Flanders. There were a few guest appearances from Sergei Chernetskiy, Aton Vorbyev, and Luca Paolini – more to come on the Italian later – but Kristoff lead the way in the first half of the season. The Norwegian would eventually end the year at the top of the victory rankings, taking four more than his nearest WorldTour rival, Andre Greipel, and almost half of the team’s overall win count.
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The Russian team were missing a big component last season with Joaquim Rodríguez beset by injury problems, but he too was on song in 2015, taking a brace of stage victories at the Tour de France and returning to the podium at the Vuelta a Espana. He got his name on the scoreboard in April with two stages and the overall at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and would carry his strong form into the Ardennes Classics, but he didn’t have enough to beat compatriot Alejandro Valverde and finished third at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Ilnur Zakarin was the surprise package in the opening part of the season with his overall victory at the Tour de Romandie. The 26-year-old, who has previously served a two-year ban for the use of anabolic steroids, took the lead on the penultimate day and put in an impressive ride in the final time trial to keep hold of the leader’s jersey. Simon Spilak made it a one-two for the Russian team. A month later, Zakarin made his debut at the Giro d’Italia, where he went on to take a stage win at the Imola circuit. His performance impressed the team sufficiently that they extended his contract for two more years. Spilak would turn second into first in June when he took overall success at the Tour de Suisse.
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