Danish company Christina Jewelry (formerly Christina Watches) will join the German Continental Team Stuttgart as a sponsor. The team will be named Christina Jewelry Pro Cycling in the future but the cooperation is initially limited to the 2016 season.

Stefan Schumacher will be the captain of the team. The German already rode for the former Christina Watches team in 2014 and most recently rode for the Polish pro continental CCC Sprandi team. Apart from the 34-year-old Schumacher, the roster is composed of German and Danish talents.

The ambition is compete in a full programme of Danish races alongside the international calendar. Which means UCI events, the Danish Team Time Trial Championships, Post Cup and the all-important goal of qualifying for Post Danmark Rundt.

”We were considering a pro continental sponsorship and in addition to our discussions with Stölting we had concrete negotiations with another team. But we couldn’t race in Denmark, since pro continental teams are not allowed to compete in Category 2 races. So we couldn’t qualify for Post Danmark Rundt via the race programme and we didn’t like the odds. So we would much rather qualify. We have only agreed to a one-year contract with Team Stuttgart, but both parties are interested in two years. We want to see if the new leadership in the Danish Cycling Federation genuinely welcomes our participation as a financial contributor to the sport and allows us to compete on equal terms for qualification to Post Danmark Rundt, which commercially has always been our own Tour de France,” says managing director of CHRISTINA Jewelry & Watches, Claus Hembo.

The director is, together with his wife and business partner Christina Hembo, looking forward to having Stefan Schumacher back as team captain and once again taking part in the sport:

“In contrast to last time, where we were involved in the game of building a team of experienced names, we are most interested in establishing a foundation of talented Danish and German cyclists with Stefan Schumacher as their experienced mentor and leader."