Tinkoff (cycling team)
cycling team
Tinkoff (UCI team code: TNK) was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia and previously Denmark. It competed in the UCI World Tour.
The team was owned by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis from 2000 until 2013 and Russian banker Oleg Tinkov, who provided the team's last sponsor, Russian Tinkoff Bank, from 2013 until it closed in 2016.
Founded in 1998 as home-Jack & Jones, the team started in cycling's second division. In 2000 it moved into the top division, now known as the UCI World Tour. Since 2000, under differing sponsor names (Memory Card–Jack & Jones and CSC–Tiscali), the team rode the Tour de France. It has won the overall classification in all three of the Grand Tours. In the 2008 Tour de France, Carlos Sastre won the general classification, Andy Schleck won the young rider classification, and the team won the overall team classification, and Ivan Basso won the 2006 Giro d'Italia, as well as finishing third and second in the 2004 and 2005 Tour de France. The team has also won many major classics, including 6 Monuments.
The team won the UCI ProTour's team classification each year from 2005 through 2007, and the team classification in the 2010 UCI World Ranking.
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