The partnership with Sporting may be over, but Tavira, the land of cycling, didn't want to lose his team. Atum General/Tavira/Maria Nova Hotel is the new name of the formation that will compete in the new velocipedic era. Getting to the podium of the Volta a Portugal is «the big goal».
In an interview with Sul Informação, Vidal Fitas, sports director of the Tavira Cycling Club, an entity that had the protocol with Sporting, said that, on the part of the Alvalade club, "there was no interest" in continuing the partnership.
«The Tavira Cycling Club celebrates, in 2020, 41 years of uninterrupted activity, so we could only continue. The club is autonomous and what we tried to do was to find new brands that would support the project», he explained.
But the truth is that, admitted Vidal Fitas, the Tavira Cycling Club is never "interested in losing partners", which happened in this case.
“When a partnership ends, it's always a headache to get new sponsors. We cannot speak for our partners and for their goals and priorities. Sporting felt that this partnership should not be part of the future. The only thing we can say is that we are proud of the time we spent together», he considered.
Although the real objective was never reached – the victory in the Volta a Portugal – there were «good things» throughout these four years of Sporting/Tavira.
For the Algarve, these were times of “a new reality”.
«Having a club of this size as a partner has brought us responsibilities that, with another type of brand, do not apply, because they look at sport in a different way. Carrying a name like this on one's back had positive things, with lessons that otherwise we would never have had», he told our newspaper, in a balancing act.
But the Sporting/Tavira chapter is closed. Now it's time for the new team to hit the road, which has the support of the Câmara de Tavira and the sponsorship of Atum General and Maria Nova Hotel, a Tavira unit of the AP Hotels group, despite the lower budget.
For the new season, the team managed to maintain its hard core of athletes, even with the departure of Tiago Machado (for Efapel) and Nocentini and Nicola Toffali, who ended their career.
Alexsandr Grigorev, Alejandro Marque, Frederico Figueiredo and César Montargil remained, the strong names of this team, and Marcelo Salvador was hired from Sicasal. “There is a group that opens up prospects for us to have, throughout the season, important results”, considered Vidal Fitas.
The main objective of the season is to fight for the podium in the Volta a Portugal. "Winning the round, taking into account the squad of W52/FCPorto and Efapel, does not seem realistic," he added.
Until then, the preparation of the Algarve team will include Volta de Suan Juan (Argentina), from January 27th to February 3rd, and Voltas ao Algarve (19-23 February) and Alentejo, still without a defined date.
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