Kaiku () was a Spanish

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

cycling team A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...

based in the

Basque country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

that participated in

UCI Continental Circuits The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

races and when selected as a wildcard to

UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, e ...

events. The team was managed by Eneko Garate with assistance from

directeur sportifs A ''directeur sportif'' ( French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is ...

Óscar Guerrero, Juan Hernández and Juan Campos. The lead sponsor, Kaiku Corporación Alimentaria, is a

dairy products company in which Caja Rural de Navarra at one time held a financial stake. In its first season, 2005, Kaiku, a.k.a. "

Kaiku–Caja Rural Kaiku () was a Spanish UCI Professional Continental cycling team based in the Basque country that participated in UCI Continental Circuits races and when selected as a wildcard to UCI ProTour events. The team was managed by Eneko Garate with ass ...

", was formed from

Caja Rural Caja (meaning "box" in Spanish) can refer to: * ''Caja'' or ''caixa'', a Spanish savings bank similar to a credit union * Caja project, a former Google project for reducing security risks in HTML, CSS and JavaScript * Caja del Rio, a mesa in New M ...

's amateur team. Kaiku Corporación had in the previous 22 years sponsored amateur teams that had featured riders who later became famous, such as

Juan Antonio Flecha Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (born 17 September 1977) is an Argentine-born Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2000 and 2013. Flecha had a reputation of being a Classics specialist and to ride ...

Joseba Beloki Joseba Beloki Dorronsoro (born 12 August 1973) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. Tour successes Beloki turned professional in 1998 with , joined in 2000, and then in 2001. A strong climber in the high mountains and a top p ...

Juan Carlos Dominguez ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero,

Mikel Zarrabeitia Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga (born May 14, 1970 in Abadiño) is a Spanish former road bicycle racer. In the 11th stage of the 2000 Vuelta a España, Zarrabeitia cut off the top of his finger. He was trying to repair his distance counter during the ...

, and

Abraham Olano Abraham Olano Manzano (born 22 January 1970 in Anoeta, Gipuzkoa) is a Spanish retired professional road racing cyclist, who raced between 1992 and 2002. He won the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Championship in 19 ...

, but the company had not sponsored any team in the previous 5 years.

2006 squad

External links

Former Sponsor's Site

References

Defunct cycling teams based in Spain Cycling teams established in 2005 Cycling teams disestablished in 2006 2005 establishments in Spain 2006 disestablishments in Spain {{Spain-sport-team-stub