The seaside resort of Valamar Diamant in Poreč will play host to the riders, sport directors, doctors, technical staff and management of Tinkoff Team from October 26th to 29th, in order to start planning and preparing for the 2016 season. 
 
According to Stefano Feltrin, Managing Director of Tinkoff-Saxo, this meeting will signal the start of the "Tinkoff era" of the team. "With our rider roster now complete, we can focus on planning for 2016 and this four-day meeting will give us a head start. It will be an important first step in a long and challenging season and it will give our new riders the opportunity to get acquainted with the rest of the team. All riders will discuss next year's racing schedule with the sport directors, they will have a thorough medical checkup and meet with a number of our technical suppliers", stated Feltrin.
 
"We chose to come here because we found in Poreč and the Valamar Riviera group the perfect partners. Not only do Poreč and Istria provide the perfect setting, Valamar Diamant offers world-class facilities that meet the standards of any top-level professional sports team", added Feltrin. 
 
The final roster of Tinkoff Team for 2016 consists of 27 riders. In alphabetical order they are, Erik Baška, Daniele Bennati, Adma Blythe, Manuele Boaro, Maciej Bodnar, Pavel Brutt, Alberto Contador, Oscar Gatto, Michael Gogl, Jesper Hansen, Jesús Hernández, Robert Kiserlovski, Michael Kolar, Roman Kreuziger, Rafal Majka, Jay McCarthy, Sergio Paulinho, Evgeny Petrov, Pawel Poljanski, Michael Rogers, Ivan Rovny, Juraj Sagan, Peter Sagan, Matteo Tosatto, Yuri Trofimov, Nikolay Trusov and Michael Valgren.

During their stay in Poreč, all riders will undergo a special medical examination at the Thalassotherapia Opatija clinic, which will also mark the first time that a top-level professional cycling team has opted for medical examination in a Croatian clinic.
 
“This is a very important event for Istria, Poreč, tourist company Valamar Riviera, Thalassotherapia Opatija clinic and in general for positioning Croatia on the global map of cycling. Taking into consideration the position, climate and the terrain characteristics, we have a great potential to become one of the top destinations for big cycling events", stated Vladimir MIholjević, director of Top Sports Events, the company that is the main driver behind the initiative to bring Tinkoff-Saxo to Croatia.  
 
Ivica Vrkić, Director of Marketing at Valamar Riviera also expressed his satisfaction with this visit: "We are very proud that Tinkoff-Saxo chose Porec and Valamar for its team meeting. This confirms that our work in developing cyclo-tourism has been set in the right direction and it will encourage us to continue with even stronger efforts aiming to take full advantage of the irrefutable potential our destinations from Istria to Dubrovnik have".
 
"Our goal is to place Croatia on the map of the most prominent European destinations for cyclo-tourism. In the recent years, Istria is making huge steps forward as a destination that develops bike offer and Valamar is the leader of that trend, with the ambition to hold this position in the future. Our brand Valamar Loves Bike is present on the market for many years, we have developed 6 specialized bike hotels that offer the highest standards of service", concluded Vrkić.
 
Once the four-day meeting concluded, the entire Tinkoff Team will gather again early December in Gran Canaria for a two-week training camp in one of the ANFI Group resorts.