The 2012 season for Team Katusha began in January at the Tour Down Under. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour. The team experienced a managerial change, as Andrei Tchmil left the post at the end of the 2011 season, with the intent to take a higher role within European cycling. He was replaced by former Gerolsteiner boss .