Kas was a professional cycling team

Cycling team

A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether recreational or professional - and the supporting personnel...

 of the 1960s and 1970s, one of the strongest Spanish teams. It was sponsored by a soft drinks manufacturer, Kas

Kas

Kas is the brand name of soft drink produced by PepsiCo. It comes in grapefruit, orange , lemon , bitter , and apple flavors. Kasfruit juices are also offered in multiple flavors...

. The team was from Vitoria-Gasteiz

Vitoria-Gasteiz

Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital city of the province of Álava and of the autonomous community of the Basque Country in northern Spain with a population of 235,661 people. It is the second largest Basque city...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It wore team a yellow jersey with Kas written in blue. It lasted
active from 1958 until 1979,returning for three years in the 1980s.

Kas-Kaskol team

The Kas team began in 1958, the year Fausto Izan won a stage in the Vuelta a España. In 1959 the team signed the 1958 Spanish champion, Federico Bahamontes

Federico Bahamontes

Federico Martín Bahamontes is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist.-Biography:Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla , of Cuban descent. His family was devastated during the Spanish civil war and Bahamontes' father, Julián, took the family to Madrid as refugees...

, who at that time had won two King of the Mountains

King of the Mountains

The King of the Mountains is the title given to the best climber in a cycling road race; usually and officially known as the Mountains classification...

 classifications in both the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

 and the Vuelta a España

Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

. The Tour de France was disputed by national teams and Bahamontes won the Tour in 1959

1959 Tour de France

The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 18 July 1959. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over 4,391 km, and the winner had an average speed of 35.474 km/h....

. Bahamontes left in 1960 but the team won the King of the Mountains in the 1960, 1961 and 1962 Vuelta a España with Antonio Karmay Mestre.

Julio Jiménez

Julio Jimenez

Julio Jiménez Muñoz is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. Known as a climbing specialist, he captured six King of the Mountains jerseys at the Grand Tours...

 again won the King of the Mountains in the 1964 and 1965 Vuelta a España. Kas-Kaskol dominated the 1966 Vuelta with Francisco Gabica

Francisco Gabica

Francisco Gabicacogeascoa Ibarra was a professional road bicycle racer between 1961 and 1972. Of his 21 professional victories, Gabica is most famous for winning the 1966 Vuelta a España besting runnerup Eusebio Velez of Spain and third-place finisher Carlos Echeverria of Spain...

 winning, Eusebio Velez Mendizabal second and Carlos Echeverría third. It dominated the King of the Mountains competition with Gregorio San Miguel. The team won six stages and held the yellow jersey for 14 of the 18 stages.

Kas won the team prize in the 1967 and 1968 Vuelta. In 1971 the team signed the best new professional of the 1970 Vuelta, José Manuel Fuente. Fuente won for the mountains race in the 1971 Giro d'Italia

1971 Giro d'Italia

The 1971 Giro d'Italia was held from 20 May to 10 June 1971. This 54th running of the Corsa Rosa covered 3,621 km at an average speed of 37.176 km/h. It was won by the Swede Gösta Pettersson.-General classification :- Maglia rosa holders:...

 and then won the Vuelta in 1972. With a Kas teammate Miguel Maria Lasa second as well as four other Kas riders in the top ten, the team won the mountains, points, and combination classifications and the team prize. It wore the yellow jersey for 17 of the 18 stages .

Fuente and his team went to the 1972 Giro d'Italia

1972 Giro d'Italia

The 1972 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 55th running of the race, was held from 21 May to 11 June 1972, consisting of 20 stages. It was won by Eddy Merckx.-Final classment:-Maglia rosa holders:-Other jerseys:...

 where Fuente took the maglia rosa and the race became a battle between him and Eddy Merckx in the mountains. Merckx beat Fuente in the mountains.

Fuente won the 1974 Vuelta, the third rider to win two editions of the race. Fuente led from the 10th stage but fell and then lost more time in the final time trial. He won by 11 seconds. Kas again won the team prize.

The following year Kas won the mountains, points and team classifications as well as holding the yellow jersey for 19 stages until the final time trial, when Agustín Tamames took it and left the Kas teammates Domingo Perurena and Miguel María Lasa on the lower steps of the podium. Fuente abandoned the race with problems which led to the end of his career.

Kas won the Vuelta again in 1976 with José Pesarrodona

José Pesarrodona

José Pesarrodona Altimi is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer who raced during the 1970s. Pesarrodona won the 1976 Vuelta a España ahead of Luis Ocaña and Jose Nazabal of Spain...

 and the mountains competition with Andrés Oliva

Andrés Oliva

Andrés Oliva was a former Spanish professional cyclist. Oliva was a great climber, so he ended up winning multiple Mountains Classifications. He won the Mountains Classification at the 1975 Giro d'Italia and the 1976 Giro d'Italia. Those were the only two years that Oliva raced the Giro d'Italia...

. It won the team prize in the 1978 and 1979 Vuelta. In 1979 many Belgian riders joined and the chief directeur sportif as Belgian Robert Lelangue. 1976 Tour de France

1976 Tour de France

The 1976 Tour de France was the 63rd Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 18, 1976. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4017 km, with riders averaging 34.518 km/h.It was won by mountain specialist Lucien Van Impe...

 winner Lucien Van Impe

Lucien Van Impe

Lucien van Impe was a Belgian cyclist from 1969 to 1987. He excelled mainly as a climber in multiple-day races such as the Tour de France...

 won a stage for the team in the 1979 Tour de France

1979 Tour de France

The 1979 Tour de France was the 66th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 22, 1979. The total race distance was 24 stages over 3765 km, with riders averaging 36.513 km/h. It was the only tour to finish at L'Alpe d'Huez twice. It was won by Bernard Hinault, who also won the points...

  The sponsor then retired from the peloton.

1980s Kas team

In 1985 Kas returned as a co-sponsor of the Skil-Sem team

Skil-Sem (cycling team)

Skil-Sem was a French professional cycling team which competed during both the 1984 and 1985 seasons. It was the continuation of the Sem-France Loire team. Skil-Sem was the team with which the team's leader, Sean Kelly, dominated the sport in 1984. Another team member, the french rider Eric...

 run by French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 directeur sportif

Directeur sportif

A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...

 Jean de Gribaldy

Jean de Gribaldy

Jean de Gribaldy was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif.-Biography:Born in Besançon, former professional racing cyclist from 1945 to 1954, Jean de Gribaldy began a successful career as a directeur sportif in the mid-1960s .Called le Vicomte , he discovered Sean Kelly, Joaquim Agostinho...

. The following year Kas took over as title sponsor and the Kas jersey returned. The team rode more Spanish races to satisfy the new sponsor. Sean Kelly

Seán Kelly (cyclist)

John James 'Sean' Kelly is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classics riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193...

 improved on his ninth place in the 1985 Vuelta a España

1985 Vuelta a España

The 40th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from 23 April to 12 May 1985...

 by coming third in 1986, winning the points jersey at the Vuelta for the third time. Kelly also won the Vuelta al País Vasco and the Volta a Catalunya. In 1986 the team was French, still under de Gribaldy.

The team had success with Kelly, with Acacio Da Silva

Acácio da Silva

Acácio da Silva Mora is a former Portuguese professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1982 to 1994 during which he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and stages in many other stage races. He won three stages in total in the Tour de France, one in 1987, one in...

 who won the Züri-Metzgete, and with the Swiss cyclo-cross champion, Pascal Richard

Pascal Richard

Pascal Richard is a French-speaking Swiss former racing cyclist. He is most notable as a former King of the Mountains winner at the Giro d'Italia and Olympic Games gold medalist.-Biography:...

.

In January 1987 de Gribaldy died in a car crash. After that the team became Spanish. In the 1987 Vuelta a España

1987 Vuelta a España

The 42nd Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 23 to May 15, 1987. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of 3,921 km, and was won by Luis Herrera of the Café de Colombia cycling team...

, Kelly led with three days to go when he withdrew due to injury. He won the event in 1988

1988 Vuelta a España

The 1988 Vuelta a España was the 43rd Vuelta a España, taking place from April 25 to May 15, 1988. It consisted of 20 stages over 3425 km, ridden at an average speed of 38.506 km/h...

, Kas' last win in the Vuelta. After 1988 the team stopped. The team owner died in 1988 and Kas retired from the sport.

Kas also sponsored several Spanish cyclo-cross riders in 1980, 1993 and 1994.