The sports director of the new team was Deividas Vileniškis, who previously held a similar position in the Lithuanian Staki–Baltik vairas team.
“Today, the Energus cycling team includes both promising young athletes and highly experienced cyclists such as multiple Lithuanian champion Venantas Lašinis. The team prepared for the season by training in a camp in Spain for four weeks, and Rokas Kmieliauskas won the fifth place in the first cycling road race of the season in “Śležanski Mnich” in Poland. In the “Dobeles kauss 2024″ group race in Latvia, the cyclists of our team made up all the strongest five, and in the individual race they temporarily took the first two places in the U23 group,” said D. Vileniškis.
The team was assembled by Povilas Šidlauskas, a cycling enthusiast and the founder and manager of the Energus company.
“I’ve been in business for 20 years, I started building a bicycle almost five years ago. I strive for the maximum result in both areas, because I am well aware that the worst thing for both a businessman and an athlete is to stop. Unfortunately, this happens to the majority of young and talented cyclists in Lithuania. Currently, there is no club system that would create opportunities for youth to improve and ensure a start to the professional level. As a business representative, it was incomprehensible to me how this potential was left to the will of fate. I believe that this synthesis of business and sport will be a big step forward”, said P. Šidlauskas.
According to Mr. Šidlauskas, the goal of the “Energus cycling team” is to become a springboard for athletes seeking a professional cycling career.
“From the athletes to the administration, we managed to assemble an extremely strong team that believes in this idea and has a start-up spirit. We are well aware that there have been such attempts in the market so far, teams have been assembled, but it has not turned into a long-term successful project. We are determined to change that. We will aim to become the best cycling team in the Baltic countries, providing athletes with opportunities to improve by participating in the highest level competitions”, P. Šidlauskas shared his goals.
Composition of the “Energus cycling team”:
Mantas Balčiūnas, Gustas Raugala, Venantas Lašinis, Deividas Valiūnas, Mantas Januškevičius, Rokas Kmieliauskas, Dominykas Burka, Aironas Gerdauskas, Oleg Ivanovas, Vytautas Vilūnas, Karlis Klismetas (Latvia), Girtas Harkin (Latvia), Remi De Mey (Belgium).
