Kas (cycling team)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kas
Team information
UCI code	KAS
Based	Spain 1959–1978  Belgium 1979  France 1986  Spain 1987–1988
Founded	1958
Disbanded	1988
Discipline(s)	Road
Status	Retired
Previous team name(s)
1958–1960 1961 1962 1963–1975 1976–1979 1986–1987 1988	Kas-Boxing Kas-Royal Asport Kas Kas-Kaskol Kas-Campagnolo Kas Kas-Canal 10

Kas was a former Spanish professional cycling team that was one of the strongest Spanish cycling teams of the 1960s and 1970s. The team was sponsored by the soft drinks manufacturer Kas. The sponsor returned to the sport for three years in the 1980s sponsoring Jean de Gribaldy’s team.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Kas-Kaskol team 1.2 1980s Kas team 2 References

[edit] History

[edit] Kas-Kaskol team

The Kas cycling team first came into existence in 1958 which achieved a stage win in the 1958 Vuelta a España with Fausto Izan.^[1] The team was from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team had distinctive yellow jersey with Kas written in blue which was inspired by the trade mark of the Kas soft drink sponsors.^[2] The team was active from 1958 until 1979. In 1959 the team signed 1958 Spanish Champion Federico Bahamontes^[3] who at that time had won two King of the Mountains classifications in both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. The Tour de France was disputed by national teams and Bahamontes won the Tour in 1959. Bahamontes left the team in 1960 but the team won the King of the Mountains classification in the 1960, 1961 and 1962 Vuelta a España with Antonio Karmay Mestre. Julio Jimenez again won the King of the Mountains for the team at the 1964 and 1965 Vuelta a España. Kas-Kaskol competed dominated the 1966 Vuelta a España with Francisco Gabica winning the overall, Eusebio Velez Mendizabal came second and Carlos Echeverría third. In addition the team continued to dominant the King of the Mountains competition with Gregorio San Miguel. The team won six stages of the event and held the yellow jersey for 14 or the 18 stages. ^[4] The team won the team prize in the 1967 and 1968 Vuelta a España. In 1971 the team signed the best new professional of the 1970 Vuelta a España José Manuel Fuente. Fuente won for the team the Mountains Classification of the 1971 Giro d'Italia and then won the Vuelta for the team in 1972. With a Kas teammate Miguel Maria Lasa in second place as well as four other Kas teammates in the top ten, the team dominated the race winning the Mountains, Points, Combination Classifications and easily won the team prize. The team held the yellow jersey for 17 of the 18 stages of the race. ^[5] After the 1972 Vuelta a España, Fuente and his team went to the 1972 Giro d'Italia where Fuente took the maglia rosa and the race became a battle between him and Merckx in the mountains. Merckx beat the climber in the mountains. Fuente went to the 1973 Tour de France where he finished third overall after losing his second place to Bernard Thévenet during the final Individual time trial. Fuente won the 1974 Vuelta a España for the team and became at that time only the third rider to ever win two editions of the race. Fuente led from the 10th stage with a comfortable lead over his rivals but fell and then lost more time in the final individual time trial. He went on to win with only 11 seconds advantage. Kas again won the team prize. ^[6] The following year Kas won the Mountains classification, the Points Classification and the team classification as well as holding the yellow jersey for 19 stages of the race until the final time trial when Agustín Tamames took it and left the Kas teammates Domingo Perurena and Miguel María Lasa on the lower steps of the podium. Fuente had to abandon the race with problems which would lead to the end of his career.^[7] Kas won the Vuelta again in 1976 with José Pesarrodona and the Mountains competition with Andrés Oliva. The team won the team prize in the 1978 and 1979 Vuelta a España. In 1979 the team became predominantly Belgian with many Belgian riders joining the Spanish riders and the chief directeur sportif as Belgian Robert Lelangue. 1976 Tour de France winner Lucien Van Impe was part of that team and won a stage for the team in the 1979 Tour de France ^[8] The sponsor then retired from the peloton.

[edit] 1980s Kas team

In 1985 Kas reentered the sport as a co-sponsor to the Skil-Sem team that was run by the famous French directeur sportif Jean de Gribaldy. The following year Kas took over as title sponsor and the characteristic Kas jersey returned to the peloton. The team started to race much more Spanish races to satisfy the new sponsors.^[9] Sean Kelly improved on his ninth place in the 1985 Vuelta a España by placing third in the 1986 Vuelta a España and winning the points jersey at the Vuelta for the third time in his career. Kelly also won the Spanish stage races the Vuelta al País Vasco and the Volta a Catalunya. In 1986 the team was a French team with directeur sportif Jean de Gribaldy.

The team obtained success with Kelly and also with Acacio Da Silva who won the Züri-Metzgete as well as Swiss cyclo-cross champion Pascal Richard. ^[10] However in January 1987 de Gribaldy was killed tragically in a car crash. After that the team became a Spanish team. In the 1987 Vuelta a España, Kelly was leading the general classification with only three days to go when he was forced to withdraw due to injury but Kelly returned and won the event in 1988 giving Kas its last win in the Vuelta. After the 1988 season the team that traced its foundations to de Gribaldy’s Skil-Sem and Sem-France Loire teams was stopped. The team owner of Kas had been Luis Knorr who is said to have told Kelly that he wanted Kelly to stay with the Kas team until Kelly retired. However Knorr died in 1988 before Kelly's win in the Vuelta and after Knorr died Kas retired from the sport.^[11]

Kas also sponsored several Spanish cyclo-cross cyclists on an individual basis in 1980^[12], 1993^[13] and 1994.^[14]

[edit] References