CCC Team have completed their roster for the 2020 season by adding Hungarian Attila Valter to finalize the 28-man squad for the coming year.
The 21-year-old was part of CCC's development team in 2019, winning a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir and placing fourth in Il Piccolo Lombardia.
He joins his teammates Kamil Malecki and Michal Paluta in moving up to the WorldTour squad, after both riders raced for CCC-Sprandi as Pro Continental team in 2018 and for CCC Development Team in 2019.
"Attila Valter is a rider with enormous potential and we are looking forward to welcoming him to CCC Team where he will have the chance to continue his development as rider," CCC manager Jim Ochowicz said in a press release.
"Despite his youth and relative inexperience, Attila has demonstrated his skill and abilities on the bike at the U23 level and we believe he has a big career ahead of him. For this reason, we have decided to graduate Attila from CCC Development Team to the WorldTour team for the 2020 season and accelerate his progression."
The team were impressed by the Tour de l'Avenir stage win, when he soloed away on stage 9's long category 1 ascent to Tignes to win ahead of Tobias Foss, who will join Jumbo-Visma next year, and Georg Zimmerman, who also joins CCC Team in 2020.
"Attila already has an excellent foundation on which we will build with the expertise of our performance team. It is particularly exciting to welcome a Hungarian cyclist to team in 2020, a historic year for cycling in Hungary with the start of the Giro d'Italia in Budapest," Ochowicz said. "Hungary is also an important market for our title sponsor CCC, so we are excited to see Attila stay with CCC-sponsored teams."
Valter, the Hungarian time trial champion who endured a spectacular and unfortunate crash in the U23 World Championships time trial in Yorkshire, said the move was a dream come true.
"Stepping up to the WorldTour after just one season with Development Team makes me extra happy and motivated, because it means I'm taking the 'steps' fast , which is always a goal for me. Not only the fact that I will be riding at the highest level, but the fact that I will ride and learn alongside riders like Greg Van Avermaet, Matteo Trentin and Ilnur Zakarin is something I can hardly believe," Valter said.
"I want to keep progressing in the following years and I hope I can achieve something great with CCC Team in the 2020 season already. I hope to have a consistent season and do my maximum in every race. At this stage, my friend Barnabas Peak and I will be the only Hungarian riders in the WorldTour level, so it's something I can be really proud of. I believe that next year with the Giro d'Italia starting in my country, the cycling culture will change and Hungary will have a bright cycling future ahead."
2020 CCC Team
New:
- Jan Hirt (Astana)
- Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha-Alpecin)
- Kamil Małecki (Neo)
- Fausto Masnada (Androno Giocattoli)
- Michał Paluta (Neo)
- Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott)
- Attila Valter (Neo)
- Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin)
- Georg Zimmermann (Tirol-KTM)
Returning:
- Will Barta
- Patrick Bevin
- Josef Černý
- Víctor de la Parte
- Alessandro De Marchi
- Simon Geschke
- Kamil Gradek
- Jonas Koch
- Jakub Mareczko
- Serge Pauwels
- Joey Rosskopf
- Szymon Sajnok
- Michael Schär
- Greg Van Avermaet
- Gijs Van Hoecke
- Nathan Van Hooydonck
- Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
- Francisco Ventoso
- Łukasz Wiśniowski
Out:
- Amaro Antunes (W52/FC Porto)
- Pawel Bernas (?)
- Lukas Owsian (Arkéa Samsic)
- Laurens ten Dam (Retires)
- Riccardo Zoidl (Felbermayr - Simplon Wels)
