History
In 1979, Kelme sponsored the mountains classification in the Vuelta a España. The owners of Kelme were not satisfied with the publicity that this gave, so they decided to sponsor a cycling team instead.
The Kelme team was formed from another Spanish cycling team, named Transmallorca in 1980. From 2004 cycling season Valencian government took the main sponsorship, Kelme becoming co-sponsor, finally dropping from the team at the end of the year. Despite this, team kept on running, but its days were numbered when on 20 August 2006, because of doping allegations on Operacion Puerto, Valencian government dropped its sponsorship. This was to become the last year for the oldest team in the peloton. The last couple of years, it was managed by Vicente Belda, former cyclist who was riding for the team from 1980 to 1988. Famous former riders included Alejandro Valverde, Roberto Heras, Aitor González, Oscar Sevilla, Ángel Casero and Fernando Escartín. Team's major results include wins in the Vuelta a España 2 times: in 2000 by Roberto Heras and Aitor González back in 2002.
Read more about this topic: Kelme (cycling Team)
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