BiciRace.com :: News :: October 2005

News :: October 2005

22 October 2005

The Details of Simoni's Saunier Decision

"My prerogative was to race in a ProTour squad," said Gilberto Simoni (34). The 2X Giro champion had spent almost two weeks in a rush to find a new squadra for 2006 after he heard the news of the Giancarlo Ferretti fall-out. The Italian was a hot commodity and received many offers, one of which was from the non-ProTour squadra of Vincenzo Santoni. Simoni had a very high offer to join Santoni's Naturino-Sapore di Mare squadra, but that would mean only racing the Giro d'Italia and a few other races.

"If I went to a non-ProTour team I would certainly be able to race the Giro. But to think only of the Giro and money has its limits. In the ProTour there are some grand races, like the Tour and the Vuelta, where I have obtained lots in the past, and I want to return." Gibo has found a happy place with the yellow squadra (Saunier Duval-Prodir) of Mauro Gianetti and Pietro Algeri. "The team was seventh in the team classifications this year. With Gianetti and Algeri I am able to push forward at the maximum."

After their meeting last Saturday at the UCI gala there were rumors that Gibo could join the side of Ivan Basso at Team CSC. The idea would be that Basso would then be under no pressure to race the Giro, and only focus on the Tour. Simoni talked to Bjarne Riis, CSC team manager, for over an hour, but the Dane has already invested his money on many top riders. Simoni signed a one-year contract with Saunier Duval-Prodir (with an option for 2007). He said that he would like to finish his career with Algeri, with whom he raced for when he won his 2001 Giro.

Read: Gilberto Simoni Has Definitely Signed, 21 October

In The 2006 Quick-Step Mix

Boonen At Flanders, photo: Graham Watson, Saunier Duval

The 2006 Quick-Step squadra has been formed. The grey-blue Belgian squadra will continue forward with their big stars: Tom Boonen (current World Champion) and Paolo Bettini (Olympic Champion). Note that after the 2006 Giro d'Italia there will be some changes. Little Venezuelan, José Rujano, will be joining the squadra after racing the Giro for Selle Italia-Colombia. While Davide Bramati, currently with Quick-Step, will retire from racing and play a technical role on the team.

The 2006 Squadra:
Paolo Bettini
Tom Boonen
Davide Bramati
Wilfried Cretskens
Kevin De Weert
Addy Engels
José Antonio Garrido
Kevin Hulsmans
Servais Knaven
Nick Nuyens
Filippo Pozzato
Sébastien Rosseler
Bram Tankink
Guido Trenti
Wouter Weylandt
Serge Baguet (from Davitamon-Lotto)
Francesco Chicchi (from Fassa Bortolo)
Steven De Jongh (from Rabobank)
Juan Manuel Gárate (from Saunier Duval-Prodir)
José Rujano (from Selle Italia-Colombia, after Giro 2006)
Ivan Santaromita (neo-pro)
Leonardo Scarselli (from Selle Italia-Colombia)
Hubert Schwab (from Saeco-Romer's)
Matteo Tosatto (from Fassa Bortolo)
Jurgen Van de Walle (from Landbouwkrediet-Colnago)
Kevin Van Impe (from Chocolade Jacques-T-Interim)
Cédric Vasseur (from Cofidis)
Geert Verheyen (from Landbouwkrediet-Colnago)
Davide Viganò (from Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi)
Remmert Wielinga (from Rabobank)

Read:
Tom Boonen Renews with Quick-Step, 11 October
Quick-Stepin' Cédric Vasseur, 5 October
Chicchi Signs With Boonen at Quick-Step, 30 September
Paolini Signs for Two Years, 21 August
Transfer for Patrik Sinkewitz, 1 July
Michael Rogers to T-Mobile in 2006, 18 June

A Toscana TT: Firenze-Pistoia

Today in Firenze the top Italian crono-men and other lovers of clock racing will depart for Pistoia. The racers will face 33K of flat Toscana countryside in the 20th running of the Firenze-Pistoia TT. There are 26 crono-men scheduled to start at 13:45. Top Italians include Marco Pinotti and Andrea Peron (Pinotti is Italian TT champion and Peron won the event back in 2003). Also on the list of starters is the 2004 winner, Sergiy Matveyev, and ProTour winner, Danilo Di Luca. Sure, it is not an A-List crono-men, but it will be a great race.

Start Order (at 13:45)
26 Alexandr Arekeev (Acqua & Sapone)
25 Cristiano Frattini (Tenax-Nobili Rubinetterie)
24 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Amore & Vita)
23 Ivan Ravaioli (Saunier Duval-Prodir)
22 Raivis Belohvosciks (Universal Caffè)
21 Devis Miorin (Liquigas-Bianchi)
20 Nico Sijmens (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago)
19 Rinaldo Nocentini (Acqua & Sapone)
18 Stefano Boggia (Panaria-Navigare)
17 Dario Andriotto (Liquigas-Bianchi)
16 Przemyslaw Niemec (Miche)
15 Giovanni Visconti (Domina Vacanze)
14 Rubens Bertogliati (Saunier Duval-Prodir)
13 Sylvester Szmyd (Lampre-Caffita)
12 Raffaele Ferrara (Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi)
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Fassa Bortolo)
10 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Lampre-Caffita)
9 Andriy Grivko (Domina Vacanze)
8 Stefano Zanini (Quick-Step)
7 Maxime Monfort (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago)
6 Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas-Bianchi)
5 Andrea Peron (Team CSC)
4 Edgardo Simón (Selle Italia-Colombia)
3 Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi)
2 Marco Pinotti (Saunier Duval-Prodir)
1 Sergiy Matveyev (Panaria-Navigare)

21 October News ...