Cycling team Gazprom – RusVelo has finalized the squad for the next season. An agreement with Pavel Brutt is closing the transfer campaign for the team. Brutt has signed a contract for one year.

General manager of Gazprom – RusVelo Renat Khamidulin said:

"We’ve known Pavel for a long time, so an agreement was discussed in a friendly and warm atmosphere. Pavel is a great time trial specialist with very solid personal power, which could be very useful in our sprint train. Brutt will have his own chances in the races that sit him. I am very happy that he is a part of our team, I believe that it’s a win-win situation."

"Gazprom – RusVelo is a new chapter in my career. I am very happy that I’ll be a part of this team, they had a great season and it looks like Gazprom – RusVelo is on the right track. I hope that I will have a chance to bring the team to victory and it’s going to be a successful season," said Pavel Brutt.

In 2017 Gazprom – RusVelo will be represented by 22 riders. The team consists only of Russian riders, so Gazprom – RusVelo succesfully continue to develop the idea of a single-nation squad. The structure of the team was built with the previous experience and it is more balanced than ever before: six GC riders, four sprint specialists and twelve all-rounders. The new squad has great opportunities within a wide range of races.

"We’ve finished our transfer campaign for 2017. This time we tried to reach balance between young and experienced riders. Professional cycling has changed dramatically and there is no place for mistake today, every small thing could have an impact on the final result. In this situation we want to set up the system of knowledge transfer from experienced guys to young riders. I believe that it will help us to reach our goals for the next season," commented Renat Khamidulin.

Full Gazprom – RusVelo roster for 2017:

Ildar Arslanov, Igor Boev, Pavel Brutt, Artur Ershov, Aidar Zakarin, Dmitry Kozonchuk, Sergey Lagutin, Roman Maikin, Sergey Nikolaev, Artem Nych, Artem Ovechkin, Alexander Porsev, Ivan Rovny, Alexey Rybalkin, Ivan Savitskiy, Kirill Sveshnikov, Andrey Solomennikov, Nikolay Trusov, Sergey Firsanov, Alexander Foliforov, Alexey Tsatevich, Evgeny Shalunov.

Russian rider Alexander Serov who’s been a Gazprom – RusVelo rider for 5 seasons is finishing his career as a rider and will hold a position as Gazprom – Rusvelo’s sports director for the next season.