From 2017 José Azevedo will lead the Swiss WorldTour team KATUSHA-Alpecin. The Portuguese José Azevedo is currently Team KATUSHA's head sports director and will be the successor of the legendary and three-time Olympic champion Viacheslav Ekimov.

On the day of the announcement of the marriage between KATUSHA and the German manufacturer of the successful men's shampoo Alpecin, the team introduced Azevedo as the General Manager. Ekimov will stay in the team where he will take care of all sponsor relations.

"It is an honor for me to follow in Ekimov’s footsteps. He has paved the way for me. My task will be easier than Viacheslav’s job these past years. A lot of work has been done by him after transforming the team from a national one to a very successful international project. If I can do as good a job as Ekimov did, I will be very happy. It is also my intention to continue to do the sports director job in some races next season. I look forward to it all," said José Azevedo.

"It has been a tough few years. The last four seasons I spent all of my energy in this team and I am proud of what we have achieved. The team won Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, Il Lombardia, Vattenfall Cyclassics, GP Ouest France – Plouay, Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie, Volta a Catalunya and Tour of Basque Country as well as stages in Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta. These were the visible things but behind the scenes we worked even harder to change the team’s structure, to be innovative and attractive to sponsors. Team KATUSHA evolved into a popular team worldwide. My mission is completed, now I feel like I need some rest for a while. For the nearby future, I will devote more time to my family but afterwards I will spend my energy for KATUSHA-Alpecin. It is good that my experience and relations will be utilized. I will stay in the team’s management committee and will devote my time to the relations with all our big and smaller sponsors, a task that is getting bigger every year," said a happyViacheslav Ekimov.

KATUSHA-Alpecin for 2017:

Maxim Belkov (RUS), Jenthe Biermans (BEL), Sven Erik Bystrøm (NOR), José Gonçalves (POR), Marco Haller (AUT), Reto Hollenstein (SUI), Robert Kišerlovski (CRO), Pavel Kochetkov (RUS), Alexander Kristoff (NOR), Viacheslav Kuznetsov (RUS), Maurits Lammertink (HOL), Alberto Losada (ESP), Tiago Machado (POR), Matvey Mamykin (RUS), Tony Martin (GER), Michael Mørkøv (DEN), Baptiste Planckaert (BEL), Nils Politt (GER), Jhonatan Restrepo (COL), Simon Špilak (SLO), Rein Taaramäe (EST), Ángel Vicioso (ESP), Mads Würtz Schmidt (DEN), Rick Zabel (GER), Ilnur Zakarin (RUS).