Kas was a Spanish-based professional
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 ...
which was active from 1958 until 1979 and again for three years in the 1980s. Its name was derived from the name of the principal sponsor of the team, the soft drinks manufacturer,
Kas. The team was principally based in
Vitoria-Gasteiz
es, vitoriano, vitoriana,
, population_density_km2 = auto
, blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s)
, blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Spain. Its riders typically wore a jersey that consisted of yellow and blue.
History
Kas–Kaskol team
The Kas team began operating in 1958, and in that year one of its riders, Fausto Izan, won a stage in the Vuelta a España. In 1959 the team signed the 1958 Spanish champion,
Federico Bahamontes
Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...
, who at that time had won two
King of the Mountains
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used.
While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest po ...
classifications in both the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
and the
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...
. The Tour de France was disputed by national teams and Bahamontes won the
Tour in 1959. Bahamontes left in 1960 but the team won the King of the Mountains in the 1960, 1961 and 1962 Vuelta a España with Antonio Karmay Mestre.
Julio Jiménez again won the King of the Mountains in the 1964 and 1965 Vuelta a España. ''Kas–Kaskol'' dominated the 1966 Vuelta with
Francisco Gabica
Francisco Gabicagogueascoa Ibarra (31 December 1937 – 7 July 2014) was a professional road bicycle racer between 1961 and 1972. Of his 21 professional victories, Gabica is most famous for winning the 1966 Vuelta a España, besting runnerup ...
winning, Eusebio Vélez Mendizabal second and Carlos Echeverría third. It also dominated the King of the Mountains competition with Gregorio San Miguel winning. The team won six stages and held the yellow jersey for 14 of the 18 stages.
Kas won the team prize in the 1967 and 1968 Vuelta. In 1971 the team signed the best new professional of the 1970 Vuelta,
José Manuel Fuente
José Manuel Fuente Lavandera (September 30, 1945 in Limanes, Spain – July 18, 1996 in Oviedo, Spain) was a professional road racing cyclist and noted climbing specialist.
Fuente was a professional from 1970 to 1976. He had the same nickname ...
. Fuente won the mountains classification in the
1971 Giro d'Italia
The 1971 Giro d'Italia was the 55th edition of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race consisted of 20 stages and an opening prologue, starting in Lecce on 20 May and finishing at the Vigorelli velodrome in Milan on 10 June. There ...
and then won the Vuelta in 1972. A Kas teammate, Miguel María Lasa, was second and four other Kas riders placed in the top ten. The team won the mountains, points, and combination classifications and the team prize. It wore the yellow jersey for 17 of the 18 stages .
Fuente and his team went to the
1972 Giro d'Italia
The 1972 Giro d'Italia was the 55th running of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in Venice on 21 May, with a prologue and concluded with a mass-start stage, on 11 June. A total of 100 riders from ten teams entered the 20-st ...
where Fuente took the maglia rosa and the race became a battle between him and Eddy Merckx in the mountains in which Merckx prevailed.
Fuente won the 1974 Vuelta, the third rider to win two editions of the race. Fuente led from the 10th stage but fell and then lost more time in the final time trial. He won by 11 seconds. Kas again won the team prize.
The following year Kas won the mountains, points and team classifications as well as holding the yellow jersey for 19 stages until the final time trial, when
Agustín Tamames
Agustín Tamames Iglesias (born 19 October 1944) is a former Spanish road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. In 1975 he won the General classification, overall title and five stages of the Vuelta a España. Over his entire career, Tamames won ...
took it and left the Kas teammates Domingo Perurena and Miguel María Lasa on the lower steps of the podium. Fuente abandoned the race with problems which led to the end of his career.
Kas won the Vuelta again in 1976 with
José Pesarrodona
Josep Pesarrodona Altimi (born 1 February 1946 in Sant Salvador de Guardiola) is a former Spain, Spanish professional road bicycle racer who raced during the 1970s. Pesarrodona won the 1976 Vuelta a España ahead of Luis Ocaña and Jose Nazabal ...
and the mountains competition with
Andrés Oliva
Andrés Oliva (7 December 1948 – 5 July 2023) was a Spanish professional cyclist. Oliva was a great climber, so he ended up winning multiple Mountains Classifications. He won the Mountains Classification at the 1975 Giro d'Italia and the 1976 ...
. In the
1976 Tour de France they won the team classification by placing four riders in the top 12 and three others in the top 30. They also won the team prize in the 1978 and 1979 Vuelta. In 1979 many Belgian riders joined and the chief directeur sportif was the Belgian Robert Lelangue. 1976 Tour winner
Lucien Van Impe
Lucien Van Impe (; born 20 October 1946) is a Belgian cyclist, who competed professionally between 1969 and 1987. He excelled mainly as a climber in multiple-day races such as the Tour de France. He was the winner of the 1976 Tour de France, ...
won a stage for the team in the
1979 Tour de France The sponsor then retired from the peloton.
1980s Kas team
In 1985 Kas returned as a co-sponsor of the French-based
Skil–Sem team run by French
directeur sportif
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 se ...
Jean de Gribaldy
Jean de Gribaldy (18 July 1922 – 2 January 1987) was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif. He rode in the Tour de France in 1947 and 1948.
Biography
Born in Besançon, Doubs ''département'', Gribaldi was a professional racing cyc ...
. The following year Kas took over as title sponsor from Skil and the Kas jersey returned but the team remained French-based. However, the team rode more Spanish races to satisfy the new sponsor. In 1986,
Sean Kelly improved on his ninth place in the
1985 Vuelta a España
The 40th Edition ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from 23 April to 12 May 1985. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of 3,474 km. The race was won by Pedro ...
by coming third, winning the points jersey at the Vuelta for the third time. Kelly also won the
Tour of the Basque Country
The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country (autonomous community) ...
and the
Volta a Catalunya
The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain.
It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of th ...
.
The team had further success in 1986 with Kelly, who was the World's number 1 rider during this period, winning 'monument' classics
Milan–San Remo
Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...
and
Paris–Roubaix
Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Monuments' or classics of the ...
, with
Acácio da Silva
Acácio Mora da Silva (born 2 January 1961 in Montalegre, Portugal) is a Portuguese former professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1982 to 1994 during which he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and stages ...
who won the
Züri-Metzgete
Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German; en, Championship of Zürich; german: Meisterschaft von Zürich) was a European Classic cycle race held annually in Zürich, Switzerland, and continued as a non-professional mass participation event from 2007 unt ...
, and with the Swiss cyclo-cross champion,
Pascal Richard
Pascal Richard (born 16 March 1964) is a French-speaking Swiss former racing cyclist. He is most notable as a former King of the Mountains winner at the Giro d'Italia and Olympic Games gold medalist. He won the Swiss National Road Race champio ...
.
In January 1987 de Gribaldy died in a car crash. After that the team became Spanish-based. In the
1987 Vuelta a España
The 42nd Edition ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from 23 April to 15 May 1987. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of 3,921 km, and was won by Luis Herrer ...
, Kelly led with three days to go when he had to withdraw due to injury. He won the event in
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, Kas' last win in the Vuelta. After 1988 the team stopped as the team owner died in 1988 and Kas retired from sponsorship.
Kas also sponsored several Spanish cyclo-cross riders in 1980, 1993 and 1994.
References
External links
{{Vuelta a España team classification winners
Defunct cycling teams based in Spain
Defunct cycling teams based in Belgium
Defunct cycling teams based in France
1958 establishments in Spain
1988 disestablishments in Spain
Cycling teams established in 1958
Cycling teams disestablished in 1988