Tinkoff Credit Systems

Italian-based Tinkoff Credit Systems was a professional continental cycling team that competed in UCI Continental Circuit races and occasionally entered UCI ProTour competitions as a wildcard. The team held UCI Professional Continental status. Oleg Tinkov, a Russian billionaire, provided funding for the team.

The 2006 Continental team Tinkoff Restaurants, which was located in Russia and led by Alexander Kuznetsov, hired Russian cyclists and was modeled after the Saint Petersburg Lokomotiv team, gave rise to Tinkoff Credit Systems. Eight of the team's eleven cyclists—Pavel Brutt, Ilya Chernetskiy, Mikhail Ignatiev, Serguei Klimov, Anton Mindlin, Ivan Rovny, Alexander Serov, and Nikolai Trusov—moved on to Tinkoff Credit Systems.

The founding of the Russian-Italian team Tinkoff Credit Systems received backing from the Italian ambassador to Russia, Vittorio Surdo, in January 2007. He stated that "for Italians, cycling is sacrosanct, as the Prime Minister of Italy is an avid cyclist."

Omar Piscina served as team manager for Tinkoff, with assistance from Orlando Maini, Dmitri Konychev, and Claudio Cozzi. Stefano Feltrin served as the company's general manager. Owner Oleg Tinkoff put a lot of effort into cultivating relationships with the Italian cycling scene, which led to invitations as a wildcard to important RCS events, such as the 2007 Giro d'Italia.

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: Moscow, Russia

Website: https://www.tinkoff.ru/