Unibet.com

Around the Henninger Tower 2005

Unibet.com was a Belgian cycling team that rode in the UCI ProTour under a Swedish license.

history

The formation, founded in 2001, was part of the Professional Continental Teams in 2005 and 2006 . Until 2005, MrBookmaker.com, which offers sports betting on the Internet, was the sponsor. In 2005 MrBookmaker.com was bought up by Unibet.com and in 2006 the team started under a new name with a higher budget. Well-known drivers such as Baden Cooke , Marco Zanotti and Carlos García Quesada were signed up .

For the 2007 season , the team received a ProTeam license from the UCI World Cycling Federation . However, at the beginning of the season, the team struggled with several problems. For example, the team in France was not allowed to compete with its main sponsor on the jersey in the one-day race Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise and at several stages of the Étoile de Bessèges , as advertising for private betting providers is prohibited in France. The team then competed in their jerseys with a question mark on their chest.

In addition, Unibet.com was a victim in the dispute between the world cycling association UCI and the racing organizers ASO , Unipublic and RCS-Sport. Since the founding of the UCI ProTour, the race organizers have resisted the fact that their most important races, such as the Tour de France , the Giro d'Italia , the Vuelta a España and eight other races, took place as part of the ProTour and were therefore subject to the regulations of the racing series . Since Unibet.com had a ProTour license, the team was actually automatically entitled to start all races in the ProTour. But ASO, Unipublic and RCS-Sport ignored the regulations of the UCI ProTour and invited the teams themselves, Unibet.com was not invited to any of the three organizers' races, so the ProTour license was basically worthless.

After an arbitration meeting, they at least agreed to examine Unibet.com's application. The ASO, organizer of the Tour de France, cited the advertising ban for private betting providers in France as the main reason for ignoring the team. Unibet.com therefore entered French races under the name of co-sponsor Canyon , a German bike manufacturer. Nevertheless, there was no invitation to one of the three major country tours. As a result of this conflict, the team was disbanded in late 2007 after Unibet.com withdrew from cycling. Team manager Jacques Hanegraaf founded the Cycle Collstrop team in 2008 as the successor team.

2007 season

Successes in the ProTour

date	run	driver
23rd June	Switzerland8th stage of the Tour de Suisse	Colombia Rigoberto Urán

Success in the Europe Tour

date	run	driver
January 19th	Australia3rd stage Tour Down Under	Australia Bathing Cooke
February 6th	France GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise	United Kingdom Jeremy Hunt
February 8	France2nd stage Étoile de Bessèges	Australia Bathing Cooke
7th March	Belgium Le Samyn	France Jimmy Casper
9th March	Belgium1st stage Three days of West Flanders	France Jimmy Casper
9-11 March	Belgium Overall ranking Three days of West Flanders	France Jimmy Casper
April 8th	Venezuela Venezuelan Championship - Individual Time Trial	Venezuela José Rujano
31. May	Belgium2nd stage Tour of Belgium	Belgium Gorik Gardeyn
June 9th	Spain2 B. Euskal Bizikleta stage	Colombia Rigoberto Urán
June 28th	Sweden Swedish Championship - Individual Time Trial	Sweden Gustav Erik Larsson
July 28th	Belgium1st stage Tour de la Région Wallonne	Spain Luis Pasamontes
August 22nd	Ireland1st stage Tour of Ireland	Belgium Stijn Vandenbergh
22-26 August	Ireland Overall ranking Tour of Ireland	Belgium Stijn Vandenbergh
21st September	Belgium Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen	Australia Bathing Cooke
15th October	Australia1st stage Herald Sun Tour	Australia Matthew Wilson
14.-21. October	Australia Overall ranking Herald Sun Tour	Australia Matthew Wilson

Team 2007

Surname	birthday	nationality	Team 2008
Matteo Carrara	March 25, 1979	Italy Italy	Quick Step
Jimmy Casper	May 28, 1978	France France	Agritubel
Alexander Chatuntsev	February 11, 1985	Russia Russia	Team Tinkoff Credit Systems
Arnaud Coyot	0October 6, 1980	France France	Caisse d'Epargne
Bathing Cooke	October 12, 1978	Australia Australia	Team Barloworld
Tom Criel	0June 6, 1983	Belgium Belgium	Cycle Collstrop
Markus Eichler	February 18, 1982	Germany Germany	Team Milram
Gorik Gardeyn	March 17, 1980	Belgium Belgium	Silence lotto
Michał Gołaś	April 29, 1984	Poland Poland	Cycle Collstrop
Jeremy Hunt	March 12, 1974	United Kingdom United Kingdom	Crédit Agricole
Pieter Jacobs	0June 6, 1986	Belgium Belgium	Silence lotto
Sergei Kolesnikov	March 10, 1986	Russia Russia	Cycle Collstrop
Gustav Erik Larsson	20th September 1980	Sweden Sweden	Team CSC
Jonas Ljungblad	15th January 1979	Sweden Sweden	P3 Transfer Batavus
Luis Pasamontes	02nd October 1979	Spain Spain	Caisse d'Epargne
Victor Hugo Peña	July 10, 1974	Colombia Colombia	Rock Racing Team
Matthé Pronk	0July 1, 1974	Netherlands Netherlands	Cycle Collstrop
José Rujano	February 18, 1982	Venezuela Venezuela	Caisse d'Epargne
Niels Scheuneman	December 21, 1983	Netherlands Netherlands	Krolstone Continental Team
Gil Suray	August 29, 1984	Belgium Belgium	Cycle Collstrop
Laurens ten Dam	November 13, 1980	Netherlands Netherlands	Rabobank
Erwin Thijs	0August 6, 1970	Belgium Belgium	End of career
Rigoberto Urán	January 26, 1987	Colombia Colombia	Caisse d'Epargne
Stijn Vandenbergh	April 25, 1984	Belgium Belgium	Ag2r La Mondiale
Troels Vinther	February 24, 1987	Denmark Denmark	Cycle Collstrop
Matthew Wilson	01st October 1977	Australia Australia	Type 1
Marco Zanotti	January 21, 1974	Italy Italy	Preti Mangimi