Just days before the competitive season began, the team signed former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca, who had recently regained eligibility following a doping ban.
The team made history by sending an all-Russian selection to the Tour de France, spearheaded by third-year pro and minor 2011 breakout star Denis Galimzyanov.
Rodríguez also had a solid spring classics campaign, finishing on the podium at both the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne.
Only 21 riders finished the race, and Brutt crossed the line first ahead of Emanuele Sella and Peter Sagan after a flurry of attacks and counterattacks in the finale.
He made the day's major selection, after a crash occurred on the Le Manie climb 90 km (56 mi) from the finish of the race.
[20] One post-race analysis criticized Pozzato for another weak showing and suggested that internal disputes with team manager Tchmil could be to blame.
[23] In what one post-race analysis called "possibly the lowest moment in the team’s short history," not one rider from their squad so much as finished the race.
After Andy Schleck attacked for victory, Rodríguez was part of the chase group that overhauled the Luxembourger on the Cauberg, the final of the race's 31 climbs.
[31][32] Team leader Rodríguez won stage 1 of the Tour of the Basque Country, finishing a second clear of any other riders, but drawing Samuel Sánchez and Andreas Klöden with him.
[34] Rodríguez is a vastly inferior time trialist to Sánchez and Klöden, and while his ride (33rd place out of 131 riders) was perhaps a bit better than expected, he still lost nearly two minutes and slipped from first to eleventh in the overall classification.
[37][38] The team also won lesser classifications at the Giro di Sardegna,[39] the Three Days of De Panne,[40] the Critérium du Dauphiné,[41] the Vuelta a Burgos,[42] and the Tour of Beijing.