Unibet becomes Cycle Collstrop

By Susan Westemeyer

Jacques Hanegraaf and Hilaire Van Der Schueren, the former directors of team Unibet.com, will return to the peloton in 2008 with a Professional Continental team to be called Cycle Collstrop.

The team will have a budget of some two million Euro. Collstrop, a Belgian company which produces wooden garden accessories, has been involved in sponsoring cycling teams off and on for many years.

Philip Roodhooft will be the new manager, and Van Der Schueren will be team director. Hanegraaf will deal with the sponsors.

So far, the team has thirteen riders under contract, most of whom are former Unibet riders: Tom Criel, Gilles Suray, Kenny Van Der Schueren, Matthé Pronk, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Lagutin, Marco Marcato and Lucas Persson. A big name rider is also expected to sign soon: "We already have a verbal agreement with Jimmy Casper," Van Der Schueren told Sportwereld.