German-Azerbaijani team to debut in 2012

Team Specialized Concept Store will join the peloton at Continental level in 2012. Based in Sulz am Neckar, Germany, the team will feature 11 German riders and four from Azerbaijan.

The German riders all come from southern Germany. “We wanted to give the young riders here another chance,” said team manager Hartmut Täumler. “There were practically no other chances for young riders to develop themselves.”

Only two of the Germans are over 20 years old. One of them is 21-year-old  Fabian Schnaidt, who is also German Under-23 champion and a member of the national team.

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The Azerbaijan connection comes about from co-sponsor Ata Holding. One of the four riders from the country is Tural Isgandorov, the national champion.The project hopes to encourage cycling in that land.

The new team has modest goals for its first year, hoping to first establish itself. It will concentrate on national races in the Radbundesliga, the German championships and international stage races such as the Tour of Azerbaijan,

Team Specialized Concept Store for 2012: Elchin Asadov (Azerbaijan); Emanuel Buchmann (Ravensburg); Achim Burkart (Achern- Önsbach); Mike-Aaron Egger (Offenburg); Nikodemus Holler (Eberdingen); Tural Isgandorov (Azerbaijan; Nico Knab (Laufenburg); Jonas Koch (Stuttgart); Thorsten Marth (Renningen); Ruslan Mustafayev (Azerbaijan); Fabio Nappa (Eutingen); Fabian Schnaidt (Rottenburg); Christoph Springer (Wittershausen); Aleksandr Surutkovic (Azerbaijan); Mario Vogt (Weil im Schönbuch)