Alfa Lum was an Italian professional cycling team that existed from 1982 to 1990. The team is best remembered for introducing many successful riders from the former Soviet Union in 1989 and 1990. The team rode in a riding kit of distinctive red and white horizontal stripes. The team sponsored the Italian company of Alfa Lum, an aluminium door and windows manufacturer.
History The team was formed in 1982 with Alfa Lum as the main sponsor. It was a modest team consisting of mainly Italian riders along with the Australian Micheal Wilson and the Swede Anders Adamsson. In 1983 the team was strengthened considerably as Italian bicycle manufacturers Olmo were brought on board as co-sponsors and Spanish rider Marino Lejarreta who had won the 1982 edition of the Vuelta a España was introduced to the squad as team leader. Marino brought along his brother Ismael to the team. In 1983 Marino Lejarreta finished second in the Vuelta a España for the Alfa Lum-Olmo team, in 1984 the team were invited to ride the Giro d'Italia and Lejarreta finished 4th overall and took a stage win.
Alfa Lum returned as the main sponsor in 1988, taking over from the Ecoflam team when the sponsors pulled out at the end of 1987. The rising star of the team was 23-year-old Maurizio Fondriest who had won a stage of the Volta a Catalunya the previous season and had some good placings in other highly ranked races. Fondriest performed beyond all expectations in 1988 culminating when he surprisingly won the World Championship Road Race in Ronse, Belgium in August. Fondriest also won stages in Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour de Suisse, as well as the GP Prato for the team that year.
At the end of 1988, Fondriest not unsurprisingly left Alfa Lum to join the Del Tongo team and the rest of the Italians also departed, leaving Alfa Lum to completely rebuild for 1989. They did this by importing fifteen riders from the Soviet Union which had decided to lift its ban on riders turning professional. This turned out to be an inspired action by Alfa Lum as riders such as the veteran Sergei Sukhoruchenkov, the 1980 Olympic road race champion were brought into the squad. However, there were many younger riders who performed admirably and went on to have much success riding for western European teams.
The team rode in 1989 and 1990 with it Soviet riders and introduced riders such as Andrei Tchmil, Piotr Ugrumov, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Viktor Klimov, Dimitri Konyshev, Vladimir Poulnikov, Ivan Ivanov to the sport. Over the two years the team had much success and surprised the cycling world. Klimov held the leader's jersey for five days in the 1990 Vuelta a Espana. Poulnikov finished fourth overall in the 1990 Giro d’Italia. Asyat Saitov won a stage in the 1990 Vuelta a España, Konyshev finished second in the 1989 UCI Road World Championships road race in Chambéry, France.
At the end of 1990 Alfa Lum left cycling sponsorship and the team folded. Many of the riders made moves to bigger teams and had outstanding success in the years to come. Poulnikov and Abdoujaparov moved to Carrera, with “Abdou” taking the Green jersey in the Tour de France in 1991, 1993 and 1994. Ugroumov moved to the Spanish team SEUR along with Klimov and Ivanov, Ugroumov won two Alpine stages in the 1994 Tour de France and finished second to Miguel Indurain in the 1993 Giro d’Italia. Konyshev moved to the Dutch squad TVM and had an outstanding career in one-day races. Andrei Tchmil went to ride for Belgian teams and became one of the top one day riders of the 1990s, winning Paris–Roubaix (1994), Milan–San Remo (1999) and the Tour of Flanders (2000).
Women's cycling Alfa Lum have been involved in sponsoring women's professional cycling. In the year 2000 the team had Joane Somarriba and Edita Pučinskaitė in the squad as team leaders. Somarriba took the overall at the Grande Boucle while Pučinskaitė took second in the same race. In 2001 Mari Holden joined Somarriba as team leader as Pučinskaitė left. In 2002 Alfa Lum reduced their commitment to women's cycling becoming a co-sponsor and then leaving the sport completely at the end of that season.
Final roster
Major results
1982 Stage 2 Giro d'Italia, Michael Wilson Prologue & Stage 1 Tour of Sweden, Giuseppe Petito Stages 3, 4 & 8 Herald Sun Tour, Clyde Sefton 1983 Vuelta a España Points classification, Marino Lejarreta Stage 3, Giuseppe Petito Stages 6, 8 & 13, Marino Lejarreta Stage 20, Michael Wilson Giro dell'Appennino, Marino Lejarreta Overall Escalada a Montjuïc, Marino Lejarreta Stages 1 & 2, Marino Lejarreta 1984 Trofeo Laigueglia, Giuseppe Petito Stage 9 Vuelta a España, Orlando Maini Coppa Cicogna, Romano Randi GP Citta di Empoli, Marcus Burns Coppa Varignana, Romano Randi Stage 19 Giro d'Italia, Marino Lejarreta Giro delle Valli Aretine, Romano Randi Trofeo Matteotti, Michael Wilson 1985 Stage 7 Giro d'Italia, Orlando Maini Coppa Sabatini, Marino Amadori 1986 Stage 2 Tirreno–Adriatico, Daniele Caroli Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country, Maurizio Rossi Stage 8 Giro d'Italia, Franco Chioccioli Stage 6 Tour de Suisse, Franco Chioccioli Coppa Ugo Agostoni, Marino Amadori Coppa Bernocchi, Roberto Gaggioli Giro del Veneto, Maurizio Rossi 1987 Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, Maurizio Rossi Stage 1, Maurizio Rossi Trofeo Pantalica, Daniele Caroli Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato, Daniele Caroli Coppa della Pace, Daniele Caroli GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, Marino Amadori Volta a Catalunya Stage 3, Daniele Caroli Stage 4, Maurizio Fondriest 1988 Stage 3 Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, Camillo Passera Stage 4 Tirreno–Adriatico, Maurizio Fondriest Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato, Maurizio Fondriest Stage 4 Tour de Suisse, Maurizio Fondriest Criterium d'Abruzzo, Maurizio Fondriest 1989 Stage 1 Vuelta a Cuba, Viktor Klimov Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Ivan Ivanov Stage 2, Dimitri Konyshev Stages 4 & 6, Ivan Ivanov Stage 5, Vladimir Pulnikov Stage 19 Vuelta a España, Ivan Ivanov Coppa Agostoni, Dimitri Konyshev Cronostafetta, Dimitri Konyshev Giro dell'Emilia, Dimitri Konyshev National Road race championships, Ivan Ivanov 1990 Stage 6 Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Piotr Ugrumov Stage 20 Vuelta a España, Asiat Saitov Stage 10 Giro d'Italia, Vladimir Pulnikov Stage 17 Tour de France, Dimitri Konyshev GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, Dimitri Konyshev Trofeo della Scalatore, Piotr Ugrumov National Road race championships, Dimitri Konyshev
Supplementary statistics Sources:
Race198219831984198519861987198819891990 Vuelta a España – 2 26 – – – – 6 8 Giro d'Italia 43 6 4 5 6 9 26 11 4 Tour de France – – – – – – – – 25Race198219831984198519861987198819891990 Paris–Nice – – – – – – – – – / Tirreno–Adriatico 13 6 6 13 – 10 6 15 25 Volta a Catalunya – – – – – – – – – Tour of the Basque Country – 3 3 3 2 – – – – Giro del Trentino – – – 6 – – 18 17 2 Tour de Romandie – – – – – – – – – Critérium du Dauphiné – – – – – – – – – Tour de Suisse – – – – 5 – 37 – – Tour de Pologne – – – – – – – – – Ronde van Nederland – – – – – – – – –Race198219831984198519861987198819891990 Milan–San Remo 59 39 55 33 41 22 2 – – Tour of Flanders – – 18 – – – 76 – 79 Paris–Roubaix – – – – – – 17 – 52 Liège–Bastogne–Liège – – – – – – – – 57 Giro di Lombardia 14 11 21 4 20 11 16 – 39Classic198219831984198519861987198819891990Omloop Het Volk – – – – – – – –Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne – – – – – – – –E3 Harelbeke – – – – – – – – 33Gent–Wevelgem – – 60 – – 49 – – 8Amstel Gold Race – – – – – – – – 23La Flèche Wallonne – – – – – – – – –Clásica de San Sebastián – – – – – – – – –Paris–Tours – – – – – 3 – – –
National and world champions 1988 World Road Race, Maurizio Fondriest 1989 Soviet Union Road race, Ivan Ivanov 1990 Soviet Union Road race, Dimitri Konyshev
References
Further reading