Team Milram
# Team Milram

Team Milram (UCI team code: MRM) was a German (formerly Italian) pro cycling team, participating at the UCI ProTour.

## History

The pro cycling team was founded in the beginning of 2006, taking over the UCI ProTeam license of Team Domina Vacanze and merging with Team Wiesenhof. The main sponsor is the Milram brand of the Bremen based Nordmilch dairy company. Some smaller sponsors include Motorex, an oil company based in Switzerland. Sprinters Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel initially were the top riders and captains. The squad is completed by 25 mainly German riders.

Among Team Milram's most important successes in 2006 and 2007 Christian Knees's win at the German classic race „Rund um Köln", Alessandro Petacchi winning the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt in 2006 and 2007, Erik Zabel's title as vice World Champion 2006, his win of the best sprinter's jersey at the Deutschland Tour 2006 and 2007 his three-stage wins at the Vuelta a España. Further important ranks are Alessandro Petacchi's five stage wins at the Giro d'Italia 2007, his win at the classic race Paris–Tours and Niki Terpstra's win of the best climber's jersey at the Deutschland Tour 2007.

Since 2008, Team Milram is a German team. The general manager is Gerry van Gerwen. His operating company VeloCity GmbH, which was founded in 2007, took over the previous Italian operating company Ciclosport with all components including the ProTour license for the beginning of the 2008 season. The new team basis is Dortmund's Club Olympia. With a new organisation structure, a much younger squad, clear objectives and an enhanced anti-doping-programme the team has changed extensively.

In 2009 and 2010, the team was sponsored by Focus Bikes. After a lengthy search for a title sponsor to replace the outgoing Nordmilch dairy company proved fruitless, the team was forced to disband effective at the end of the 2010 season. Van Gerweren hoped to form a new team for 2012.

## Petacchi 's doping case

At 23 May 2007, during the 2007 Giro d'Italia, Alessandro Petacchi was found guilty of using salbutamol after a doping control. Petacchi had a certificate to use salbutamol in the treatment of asthma, but his level of salbutamol was extremely high. Petacchi was placed on non-active status and missed the 2007 Tour de France. In July 2007, Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) ruled that Petacchi gave good reasons for this high level. Petacchi was then absolved by the FCI when they deemed any overuse of Salbutamol as simple human error. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) argued that Petacchi should be suspended for the high level of salbutamol, and send the case to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, the sporting world's highest court.

On May 6, 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Petacchi until the end of August, applied retroactively from last November. CAS also announced that all competitive results obtained during the 2007 Giro d'Italia shall be disqualified with all of the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes. Results obtained after 31 October 2007 and during the period of ineligibility will be disqualified.

As a result of this, on May 16, 2008, Petacchi was fired by Team Milram.

## Major wins

### 2006

    Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 6 Tour Méditerranéen, Elia Rigotto
    Stage 3 & 4 Vuelta a Andalucía, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 2 & 3 Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Alessandro Petacchi
    Giro della Provincia di Lucca, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 7 Tirreno–Adriatico, Alessandro Petacchi
    Rund um Köln, Christian Knees
    Overall Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt, Alessandro Petacchi
       Stage 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 1 Bayern Rundfahrt, Erik Zabel
    Stage 3 Bayern Rundfahrt, Ralf Grabsch
    Stage 5 Bayern Rundfahrt, Björn Schröder
    Stage 4 & 21 Vuelta a España, Erik Zabel
    Coppa Sabatini, Giovanni Visconti
    2nd Milan–San Remo, Alessandro Petacchi
    2nd Vattenfall Cyclassics, Erik Zabel
    3rd Gent–Wevelgem, Alessandro Petacchi

### 2007

    Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 6 Tour Méditerranéen, Mirco Lorenzetto
    Overall Volta ao Algarve
       Stage 3, 4 & 5, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 2 Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Alessandro Petacchi
    Overall Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt, Alessandro Petacchi
       Stage 1, 2 & 4, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 2 & 3 Bayern Rundfahrt, Erik Zabel
    Stage 5 Bayern Rundfahrt, Sebastian Siedler
    Stage 1 Tour de Suisse, Erik Zabel
    Stage 3 Deutschland Tour, Erik Zabel
    Stage 1 Regio Tour, Alessandro Petacchi
    Stage 7 Vuelta a España, Erik Zabel
    Stage 11 & 12 Vuelta a España, Alessandro Petacchi
    Paris–Tours, Alessandro Petacchi

### 2008

    Stage 2 Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Erik Zabel
    Overall Bayern Rundfahrt, Christian Knees
    Overall Regio Tour, Björn Schröder
    Prologue Deutschland Tour, Brett Lancaster
    Schaal Sels, Elia Rigotto
    Firenze–Pistoia, Andriy Hrivko

### 2009

    Trofeo Calvià, Gerald Ciolek
    Stage 7 Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey, Robert Förster
    Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop, Fabian Wegmann
    Overall Bayern Rundfahrt, Linus Gerdemann
    Grand Prix of Aargau Canton, Peter Velits
    Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Niki Terpstra
    Stage 1 Ster Elektrotoer, Niki Terpstra
    Stage 2 Vuelta a España, Gerald Ciolek
    2nd Vattenfall Cyclassics, Gerald Ciolek

### 2010

    Trofeo Inca, Linus Gerdemann
    Stage 3 Vuelta a Murcia, Luke Roberts
    Stage 1 Tirreno–Adriatico, Linus Gerdemann
    Stage 1 Volta a Catalunya, Paul Voss
    Rund um den Finanzplatz, Fabian Wegmann
    Batavus Prorace, Markus Eichler
    Neuseen Classics, Roger Kluge
    Stage 3 Bayern Rundfahrt, Gerald Ciolek
    Sparkassen Giro, Niki Terpstra
