Mareczko steps up to WorldTour level with new-look CCC team

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Continuum Sports, the management company behind the BMC Racing team that will be sponsored by Polish shoe brand CCC in 2019, have signed Italian sprinter Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) as they continue to rebuild their roster after losing a series of big-name riders.

Mareczko was born in Poland but moved to Italy with his parents when he was four years old. He has raced with the Wilier Triestina team since 2015, winning 35 races thanks to a powerful sprint finish. Many of his victories have come in minor races in Asia but he has started the Giro d’Italia three times and taken a number of placings. He was second behind Elia Viviani in on stage 2 of this year's Giro d'Italia to Tel Aviv.

Michael Schar, Nathan van Hooydonck, Joey Rosskopf, Francisco Ventoso and Alessandro De Marchi will all cross over from BMC, but a significant number of other riders have signed with other teams. These include Dylan Teuns (to Bahrain-Merida), Danilo Wyss (Dimension Data), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First-Drapac), Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First-Drapac), Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida), Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), Jurgen Roelandts (Movistar), Brent Bookwalter (Mitchelton-Scott), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Kilian Frankiny (Groupama-FDJ).

"I'm very happy to join a WorldTour team for the first time in my career. With my Polish heritage, it is particularly exciting to join Continuum Sports when CCC come on board as the title sponsor," Mareczko said.

Mareczko will not have a dedicated lead-out train but Continuum Sports team manager Jim Ochowicz is convinced the team can help him in sprint finishes.

"Jakub will have the opportunity to work with an established performance team and learn from some of the best riders in the peloton. Although Continuum Sports has never been a team dedicated to sprinters, we have many riders in the roster who will make a valuable lead out for Jakub in the sprint finishes," Ochowicz said.