Bangalore, 20th February 2017​: Continuing its commitment to the cycling community, Ciclo Café today announced – ‘Ciclo Team Racing’ – India’s only Elite Amateur Cycle Racing Team. ​Having Naveen John​, India’s first International pro cyclist as a team director, mentor and rider, the team will be training under his leadership. At the launch, Ciclo unveiled the team jersey, rider bikes and announced the team member names- Naveen John and Arvind Panwar (Two-time winner at the National Championships). Two young riders – Parashuram Chenji and Aman Punjani from Hyderabad will be the team’s first two development riders for 2017.

Ciclo Team Racing – The brainchild of Bachi Pullela and Ashish Thadani, with a dream to bring Indian cycling to the international racing scene. The team’s focus will be rider development from every perspective – training, coaching, nutrition, equipment and racing.

Speaking on occasion of the launch, Ashish R Thadani (CEO, TI Absolute ​Concepts​) said, “Ciclo Café was formed with a vision to bring together members of the cycling community, increase awareness about cycling and foster cycling excellence in the community. This is our effort to nurture young talent and expose them to cycling at an international level. Becoming a professional cyclist requires not just talent and an extraordinary amount of hard work on the part of the cyclist, but also requires a support system that empowers the cyclist with the best equipment, knowledge, coaching, training and racing opportunities.”

“It is always a great feeling to represent India internationally and it’s about time that we build our aspirations and get laurels for the country. We have a few very important races coming up, Asian Cycling Championships, World Championships in Norway and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Having to be a part of ‘Ciclo Team Racing’, pushes the adrenaline to train young athletes who can further participate in international races and carry Ciclo’s palette of colours.” said, Naveen John.

Renowned Actor Arya who is an avid cyclist himself, graced the occasion and lauded the effort in putting together this team and giving a platform to Indian cyclists to enhance their skills. The core team of Ciclo Team Racing will consist of 6 hand picked riders who are among the best in the country. They will be taking part in National as well as International races. The team will have a regular racing calendar that will include marquee events in India. Naveen and Arvind will represent India at International events such as the UCI World Championships. The team will travel to Belgium – Home of Ridley Bikes, for 3 months in summer for training and race simulations, where riders will be exposed to world class training and development facilities. The team sponsors will be – Ridley bikes, 2Go for cycling kits and Apparel, FSA and Vision for Equipment and support from Track & Trail.