Team Milram

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

The pro cycling team was founded in the beginning of 2006, taking over the UCI ProTeam license of Team Domina Vacanze. The main sponsor is the Milram brand of the Bremen based Nordmilch 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 in2006 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 jersay 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 hopes to form a new team for 2012.