Alfa Lum (cycling team)
| Team information | |
|---|---|
| Registered | Italy |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Disbanded | 1990 |
| Discipline | Road |
| Team name history | |
| 1982 1983–1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 |
Alfa Lum–Sauber Alfa Lum–Olmo Alpilatte–Olmo–Cierre Ecoflam–Jollyscarpe–BFB Bruciatori–Alfa Lum Ecoflam–BFB Bruciatori–Mareco–Alfa Lum Alfa Lum–Legnano–Ecoflam Alfa Lum–STM Alfa Lum |
Alfa Lum was an Italian professional cycling team that existed from 1982 to 1990. The team is best remembered for introducing many successful riders from the former Soviet Union in 1989 and 1990. The team rode in a riding kit of distinctive red and white horizontal stripes. The team sponsored Italian company of Alfa Lum, an aluminium door and windows manufacturer.
The team was formed in 1982 with Alfa Lum as the main sponsor, it was a modest team which consisted of mainly Italian riders along with the Australian Micheal Wilson and the Swede Anders Adamsson. In 1983 the team was strengthened considerably as Italian bicycle manufacturers Olmo where brought on board as co-sponsors and Spanish rider Marino Lejarreta who had won the 1982 edition of the Vuelta a España was introduced to the squad as team leader. Marino brought along his brother Ismael to the team. In 1983 Marino Lejarreta finished second in the Vuelta a España for the Alfa Lum-Olmo team, in 1984 the team were invited to ride the Giro d'Italia and Lejarreta finished 4th overall and took a stage win.
Alfa Lum returned as the main sponsor in 1988, taking over from Ecoflam team when the sponsors pulled out at the end of 1987. The rising star of the team was 23-year-old Maurizio Fondriest who had won a stage of the Volta a Catalunya the previous season and had some good placings in other highly ranked races. Fondriest performed beyond all expectations in 1988 culminating when he surprisingly won the World Championship Road Race in Ronse, Belgium in August. Fondriest also won stages in Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour de Suisse, as well as the GP Prato for the team that year.
At the end of 1988, Fondriest not unsurprisingly left Alfa Lum to join the Del Tongo team and the rest of the Italians also departed, leaving Alfa Lum to completely rebuild for 1989. They did this by importing fifteen riders from the Soviet Union which had decided to lift its ban on riders turning professional. This turned out to be an inspired action by Alfa Lum as riders such as the veteran Sergei Sukhoruchenkov, the 1980 Olympic road race champion were brought into the squad. However, there were many younger riders who performed admirably and went on to have much success riding for western European teams.
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