Bet on cycling

The professional cycling team of CCC is a team whose beginnings reach the year 2000 when CCC – the footwear company – together with two other companies: Mat and Ceresit, decided to sponsor Polish cycling. Mat Ceresit CCC team was established. It was managed by Andrzej Spytkowski, the winner of the silver medal in Seul 1988. Polsat television took its media patronage, and later on it became the co-sponsor. In the subsequent cycling seasons the team had various sponsors, and it appeared under various names: 2001: CCC Mat, 2002 – 2003 CCC Polsat, 2004 Hoop CCC Polsat, 2005 – the group suspended its activity, 2006 – CCC Polsat and in 2007 – CCC Polsat Polkowice. In the past 6 years there have been a lot of outstanding Polish cyclists in the team (Zamana, Pi?tek, Romank, Przydzia?, Bro?yna, Baranowski) as well as renowned foreign cyclists (Puttini, Sosenka, Tetieruk, Uschakov, Tonkov) who achieved their numerous successes not only on routes of Poland.

In the 2007 season the team included Cezary Zamana, and its greatest success was the victory of Piotr Przydzia? in the most important race Tour de Pologne. The next cycling season, of 2001, meant establishing a strong team, and also another streak of success. For the second time the team won in Tour de Pologne – Ondrej Sosenka won the race for the team, and the title of the Polish Champion, in the massed start race, was won by Rados?aw Romanik. The team recorded its presence and good results also in races in Italy, France, Portugal and Switzerland. In the racing cycle of the World Cup in Zurich Piotr Przydzia? won the title of the best climber, after a very good performance. The season of 2002 was one of the best seasons of the team, regarding the number of victories. In that season the Team had 30 victories, which classified it the 6th place in the rank of all professional teams, and Jacek Mickiewicz scored 9 victories in total, which placed him among the world leaders of sprint cyclists.

The successes bore fruit in the next season, in 2003, when the CCC Polsat team advanced as the first Polish team to Division One or UCI teams and started in the prestigious Giro d’Italia. The first performance of the Polish team in the Great Tour ended with a big success. In the general classification Dariusz Baranowski reached the high 12th place. The next success of that season was also the performance in the really highly competitive Tour de Suisse, during which Ondrej Sosenka got into the 9th place, and Tomasz Bo?yna was the 10th. The title of the Polish Champion in the massed start race for the 2003 season was won by Piotr Przydzia?.

The year of 2004 was another year of the ‘orange’ dominance on Polish roads. The Team gains a new sponsor – the Hoop company, and with a slightly different line-up it fights to maintain the position of the best professional team in Poland. Brothers Kohut appear in team, also the most outstanding Polish cyclist of MTB – Marek Gali?ski. S?awomir Kohut wins the title of the Champion of Poland in individual race na czas and stands on the podium as the second in the Peace Race (Wy?cig Pokoju) and in the Wy?cig Solidarno?ci i Olimpijczyków. During the MTB World Championship Marek Gali?ski was the 5th, confirming thus, that he belongs to the most outstanding sportsmen in this discipline.wspólnego na sezon 2003 wywalczy? Piotr Przydzia?.

In the 2005 season the group suspended its activity. Next year they returned to racing under the name CCC Polsat, and with a new sports director, the talented cyclist, former world vice-champion of 2002 – Zbigniew Spruch.

Many cyclists from the young generation came into the team, and their leader was the Poland’s Champion in the massed start race Adam Wadecki. The cyclists of the CCC Polsat team highlighted well their return to the Polish peleton by winning, among others, Memorial of Andrzej Trochanowski (Piotr Chmielewski), and they were active in all the races of the Pro Liga cycle, reaching in the team classification the 4th place, while Marek Weso?y was 7th in the individual classification.

In the cycling season of 2007 there have been more changes in the team of CCC Polsat. Their sponsor now was Gmina Polkowice, and the positions of sports managers were taken by former cyclists – Marek Le?niewski – the winner of silver medal in Seul in 1988, and Jacek Bodyk. There have also been changes in the team line-up. Apart from the powerful group of road cyclists (Je?owski, Kiendy?, Lisowicz, Szaniawski, Rebiewski, Weso?y, Mróz, ?o??dziowski) a strong team of MTB cyclists was established, with Marek Gali?ski, the Polish MTB Champion returning to CCC Polsat Polkowice, and brothers Adrian and Piotr Brzózka.

The main aim of the team was the victory in Pro Liga – a cycle of the most important road cycling races in Poland. The 2007 season was undoubtedly one of the best seasons taking into consideration the number of victories. There have been about 50 of them, among others definite victories in both individual and team classifications of the most prestigious race of UCI category in Poland – Pro Liga Arkus & Romet. The winner of Pro Liga Arkus & Romet 2007 in the elite category was Tomasz Lisowicz, another CCC Polsat Polkowice cyclist Tomasz Kiendy? was the second there.

Half of the 14 races of Pro Liga was won by the cyclists of CCC Polsat Polkowice. There have been victories in Memorial of Andrzej Trochanowski (Tomasz Lisowicz), Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich (Tomasz Kiendy?), Dooko?a Mazowsza (Marek Weso?y), Pucharze Uzdrowisk Karpackich (Mateusz Mróz), Memoriale Henryka ?asaka (Krzysztof Je?owski) , the race “Szlakiem walk mjr Hubala” (Tomasz Kiendy?) and also in the team time trial for the PKOl President Cup. In Polish Championship in road cycling in Kielce Jaros?aw R?biewski was awarded the silver medal in individual time trial. There have also been victories on an international scale. In Luxembourgh, in the prestigious Fleche de Sud race, there have been stage wins by Grzegorz ?o??dziowski and Tomasz Kiendy? who was second in the whole race. Races in France and Slovakia were won too.

The 2007 season was also really successful for mountain bikers. In the most important MTB race in Poland – Skoda Grand Prix, racers of CCC Polsat Polkowice triumphed. In the elite category Marek Gali?ski won again, while the U23 and junior categories were won by brothers Adrian and Piotr Brzózka. The impressive collection of achievements in his sports career Marek Gali?ski was improved by two more titles of Poland Champion of MTB and MTB Marathon in the 2007 season. A great success was Piotr Brzózka’s performance at MTB World Championship, which gave the racer two silver medals, from individual race of juniors and in the team race.

The 2008 season is another season of dominance of the Polkowice based team. There have been no changes in the line-up of the team (only Piotr Mazur joined it) and the Club gave up MTB cycling. The same as in the previous year the main aim of the team was to maintain the position of the best professional team in Poland, with the focus mainly on winning the Pro Liga cycle. In fact, the season was also a successful one. The cyclist of the team stood on the podium 32 times in the highest place, winning not only in Poland, but also abroad, among others in Tour de Taiwan. There was also a victory in Pro Liga Arkus & Romet. Tomasz Kiendy? decidedly won in the general classification and the team had the first place in the team classification, beating the teams of DHL Author and Legia. It is worth noting that it was another victory of CCC Polsaat Polkowice racers in Pro Liga Arkus & Romet. Tomasz Kiendy?, by having 13 stage wins, turned out to be the highest classified Polish cyclist of the UCI Europe Tour ranking in the 2008 season, taking the 26th place. 7 stage wins belonged to Krzysztof Je?owski, 6 of them to Marek Weso?y. Moreover, the CCC Polsat Polkowice racers stood on the podium 18 times on the second place, and 15 times being the third.

The cycling season of 2009 saw significant changes in the CCC Polsat Polkowice team. From the previous line-up only four cyclist remained: Tomasz Kiendy?, Krzysztof Je?owski, Jaros?aw R?biewski and Tomasz Lisowicz. The team was joined by ?ukasz Bodnar – a two-time gold-medal winner of Polish Championships in individual time trials (2007 and 2008) and by Bart?omiej Matysiak – a silver-medal winner of Polish Championships in a massed start race – as well as by 4 young, talented cyclists: Adrian Honkisz – a silver-medal winner of Polish Championships in 2008 in a massed-start race of the U-23 category, Tomasz Smole? – the fifth cyclist of Polish Championship in Z?otoryja in 2009, and brothers Piotr and Kamil Zieli?ski. The function of sports manager of the team in the 2009 will be performed by Piotr Wadecki – an eminent, many-time award winning cyclist, now the selector of the road cycling national team of Poland.

The first events of the team were the exotic races: Tour de Taiwan and Tour du Maroc.

They were very successful races. From the remote Taiwan, where the team performed under the Merida colours – of the sponsor of the bikes. The cyclists brought three stage victories from there: (Je?owski 2 and Kiendy? 1.) and a victory in the general classification of the race won by Krzysztof Je?owski. In the other exotic race of the team – around Morocco the ‘orange’ racers dominated absolutely. Out of 10 stages, CCC Polsat Polkowice cyclists won 7. Krzysztof Je?owski added another 4 victories of his own and became an indisputable leader among cyclists of professional teams.

In Poland the first start of the team was the race in Sobótka, opening the cycling season of 2009, and it a success of CCC too. This tam the victory was achieved by Tomasz Smole? – new in the team. In the further part of the season the team of CCC Polsat Polkowice starts in most of the races in Poland where Pro Liga cycling races are a priority. Despite the colossal rivalry among professional teams, the ‘orange’ racers add more victories successively. They win the “Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich” race (Je?owski – prologue, Smole? – stage 3), “Solidarno?ci i Olimpijczyków” (Matysiak – stage 6) as well as the Ma?opolski Wy?cig Górski where Je?owski and Smole? win 1 stage each. A big success is ?ukasz Bodnar’s victory in Mazovia Tour. He wins there one stage and the general classification of the race. Another racer who increased the number of Team’s victories was Tomasz Kiendy?. He won the Puchar MON race ( the Cup of Ministry of Defence), criteriums in Kraków, Zielona Góra, Wielu? and the Prologue of “Pomerania Tour”. The most valuable for the team of CCC Polsat Polkowice in the 2009 season was the victory of Krzysztof Je?owki in the massed-race in Poland Championship in Dolsk. Krzysztof Je?owski, with the tremendous support of the whole team won the title of Polish Champion and Tomasz Smole?, by winning the second place, became Polish Vice-Champion.

In Pro Liga Arkus&Romet competiton Tomasz Kiendy? was the 3rd in the individual classification and the team of CCC Polsat Polkowice won the team classification of Pro Liga of Invest Bank.

In total, in the cycling season of 2009 the racers of CCC Polsat Polkowice team achieved 43 victories (in this number 18 victories of Krzysztof Je?owski), 21 times they reached the 2nd place and 20 times they were the third.

The cycling season of 2010 is a further development of CCC Polsat Polkowice team. From this season we are the only PROFESSIONAL TEAM in Poland. The promotion to the higher category of cycling teams is a chance to raise the sports level of the team and also an opportunity for a confrontation with the worldwide cycling. The team managed by the Sports Manager Piotr Wanecki increased its line-up to 16 racers. The team from 2009 season was joined, among others, by Tomasz Marczy?ski from the Miche team, a former Polish Champion in 2007, and also by young and promising racers: Sylwester Janiszewski, Tomasz Repi?ski and Adama Sznitko.