The cycling project was launched on December 22, 2008, when Team Katusha was formed in Moscow. The team was practically organised by the Russian Global Cycling Project foundation, which itself is funded by Russian businesses such as Gazprom, Itera and Rostechnologii. The team was launched with a budget of over. In its first official season it signed leading cyclists such as Robbie McEwen, Vladimir Karpets, Filippo Pozzato and Gert Steegmans. The team first raced at the 2009 Tour Down Under. During the 2009 season, the team earned 23 wins. Some of the notable wins were Sergei Ivanov’s Amstel Gold victory, Filippo Pozzato's Italian road title and triumph at Giro del Veneto. After the 2012 season, Katusha lost their UCI World Tour license, despite having in their ranks the champion of the 2012 season and finishing the 2012 UCI World Tour team rankings in second position. The team appealed that decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and it was announced on 15 February 2013 that the decision of the UCI was overturned and that Katusha would be part of the 2013 UCI World Tour. Its most successful season was 2015 when the team took victories in the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs and GP Ouest France – Plouay, as well as overall wins in the Tour of the Basque Country, Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie and stage wins in the Tour de France, Tour of Italy and Tour of Spain. During the 2017 season, two staff members were videotaped dumping the team RV's septic system in a parking lot off the highway at the Amgen Tour of California. The California Highway Patrol and race organizers were informed of the incident and the waste was later professionally removed. The pair were suspended and sent home from the race. In October 2019, Israel Cycling Academy completed the takeover of Katusha–Alpecin, including its World Tour license.
Doping
In March 2009, Christian Pfannberger tested positive for EPO and was banned for life. In April of the same year Antonio Colom tested positive for EPO. In 2011, a number of police searches led by the Padova authorities were conducted in Italy during April. The searches were linked to a broader doping investigation linked to Michele Ferrari. Katusha riders Vladimir Gusev, Mikhail Ignatiev, Vladimir Karpets and Alexandr Kolobnev were searched. Later in July, Kolobnev tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide on stage 5 of the 2011 Tour de France. Two weeks later Kolobnev's B-sample returned a positive for HCT. In April 2012, Denis Galimzyanov tested positive for EPO in an out of competition test. Galimzyanov later admitted to taking the banned substance. In June 2012 Filippo Pozzato admitted to using the services of Dr Ferrari from 2004 to 2009. In July 2015, Luca Paolini tested positive for cocaine in a sample given on July 7 during the 2015 Tour de France. As a result, the team withdrew Paolini from the Tour de France. A month later, in August, Giampaolo Caruso returned an EPO positive from a sample taken in March 2012, which had been subsequently retested due to advances in detecting technology. He was suspended by the team awaiting testing of his B-sample. In February 2016, Eduard Vorganov tested positive for the newly WADA-banned compound Meldonium. Due to the frequency of doping positives, the teams faced a potential 15- to 45-day ban.
Team roster
Major wins
Since the creation of Team Katusha in 2009, its riders have won many races. As of January 2017, these included 28 stages in Grand Tours and four cycling monuments: the 2012 and 2013 Il Lombardia were won by Joaquim Rodríguez, and the 2014 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Tour of Flanders were won by Alexander Kristoff.
Sponsorship
In 2019, sponsors Alpecin and Canyon bikes confirmed that they were ending their sponsorship of the team, with Israel Cycling Academy buying the Katusha–Alpecin management company from Russian oligarch and UCI Management Committee member Igor Makarov.
