NOVINKY

We are pleased that our partner - the ATT Investments team - is doing well. All team riders are protected by POC helmets and goggles.

27.06.2023 | TZ ATT Investments, photo: Filip Bezděk, BringaSport and FB team

After the national championships, which imaginatively cut the season in half and where the riders of this Czech continental team collected a large portion of UCI points, they have moved up to second place in the current UCI ranking among the European continental teams. Only the development team Jumbo-Visma is better. They already have eight wins in UCI calendar races, more than they have accumulated in the previous three years combined.

During the national championships of the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and Estonia, ATT Investments riders have added a total of 321 points to their collection.

Matúš Štoček earned the most points (150) for winning both the time trial and the road race. Márton Dina, 4th in the time trial and 2nd in the road race with mass start in the Hungarian championship, contributed the second highest number of 90 points. Jakub Otruba scored 50 points for winning the time trial.

So, as of today's update of the UCI rankings, the Czech Conti team's score is 721 points, which puts them in 2nd place among European teams! And there are 175 Continental Teams registered with the UCI worldwide, more than half of them in Europe.

So there is only one team that is doing better in Europe right now. The reserve team currently ranked by the UCI as the second best team in the world, Jumbo-Visma. They're 30 points ahead of the Czech team.

It's good to know that development teams are run by almost all the top teams. And that it wasn't always the case. It's more a trend of recent years.

Their organisation is not always identical, but generally they are line-ups dominated by young talented cyclists who receive at least above-standard support at the Conti level. The best teams, in addition to the opportunities for home riders, then pick up the best from at least Europe.

Let's take the example of Jumbo-Visma. Their development team has 15 riders aged 19 to 22. Of these, 7 are local, i.e. Dutch, and the rest are recruited from five cycling developed European countries and one from the United States.

Six of them have already signed for the first team from next year or 2025. In addition, many of them are used on an occasional basis by the main team for races of lesser importance to them, i.e. mainly the number one category, such as the Czech Tour, but also one level above, i.e. the Pro category.

So it's a completely different league compared to the Conti teams. The current position of ATT Investments stands out all the more.

The points are good, but more visible, and therefore the wins or podium finishes are more valued. Three titles plus one second place is certainly another reason to be very satisfied with the ATT Investments team.

The big progress of ATT Investments can be clearly seen in the number of wins. He first made his mark at the continental level in 2020. In that year, he took two wins in races on the UCI calendar. They fell to Vojta Repa, who was also catapulted by these results to the Spanish ProTeams Kern Pharma. A year later, the team had five podium finishes and seven 4th places, but no wins. Last year, however, saw three wins. Mika Heming and Tomas Barta made sure of that. And they too, based on those results, went up a level after the season, namely to Swiss Tudor Pro Cycling and Spanish Caja Rural, respectively.

This year ATT Investments has already 8 winning notches at the halfway point of the season! They are the work of the whole team, but the highest on the podium were 3x Márton Dina, 2x Jakub Otruba and Matúš Štoček and 1x Tomas Jakoubek.

Let's assume that this is not the final record of the team this year. They have the athletes, facilities and program to add more success. Certainly adequate self-confidence, and if you watch the team more closely, team cohesion.

They start tomorrow in Poland at the traditional Solidarnosc, followed by the Sibiu Tour in the first decade of July, and then the racing carousel will roll on until October with highlights at the World Championships, Czech Tour, Tour of Slovakia, etc.