In 2018, Austrian Continental team Tirol is returning to its roots with 100 percent under 23 roster. Founded in 2008 with the guiding principle of developing young talent, the team has taken on board older riders in recent years but for team owner Thomas Pupp, Tirol's USP is development.
"It was more or less the core target when we started the project and this was quite a strong USP for two or three years to focus and develop U23 riders, giving them the chance to get into a pro career," Pupp told Cyclingnews at the recent Tour of Rwanda where his team was competing.
"Then we changed a little bit. We had some elder riders, 26-27, which brought us some nice success but it was more of the same."
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Of the current Austrian WorldTour professionals, the likes of Georg Preidler, Marco Haler, Michael Gogl, Patrick Konrad, Lukas Postelberger and Gregor Mulhbuerger all spent time with Tirol before making the jump into the top tier. While the team will retain an Austrian core, Pupp, also a politician, lawyer and communications expert, explained that there will be an international feel to Tirol in 2018. Partly to achieve a long-term goal of being the best under 23 team posible.
"I think it is important in cycling to have a USP and that is why we came back to U23," he said. "I have a nice target to become of the strongest under teams in the three years. The core will be Austrian riders but we would like to go international. We will have three maybe four German riders next year, one Australian guy, Rohan wright, and Sam Dobbs from the BMC Development team. It is quite a nice roster and it is nice to work with young riders and from a marketing perspective, it is a USP.
"We have also realised it is also a little bit easier to gain money from sponsors to work with younger riders."
Financial recompense for developing riders
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