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20 September 2006

21 September News ...

Confirmed: Pozzato to Liquigas (also Cipollini)

For the next two seasons, Vicentino Filippo Pozzato (25) will race for Italian-based Liquigas. The 2006 Milano-Sanremo winner will leave Quick-Step, racing at the side of Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini, at the end of this season and transfer over to the squadra of Luca Paolini and Danilo Di Luca.

The Liquigas agreement was already in place, after months of research by Pippo, and only the signature was missing. Yesterday, during the Squadra Azzurra training camp in Gazzada (Varese), Pippo signed the contract to join the team managed by Roberto Amadio.

The search for a new contract began slightly before Pippo's win in the Milano-Sanremo; the Belgian Quick-Step team was becoming too small for the rider from Sandrigo. Having to share leadership with the likes of Boonen and Bettini, who he has known since 2000 with Mapei, became too difficult and the required budget by Quick-Step to keep the contracts in place for all three stars was too demanding.

Pippo sifted through offers from T-Mobile and Cofidis, but wisely ended up choosing an Italian-based squadra for slightly less money. The contract is rumored to be close to one million euro for the first year combined with big bonuses for winning certain races, including the World Championships this Sunday, and then an increase for the 2008 season.

With the contract nailed down, Pippo will focus on the World Championships. His role will be to help captains Bettini and Di Luca, but he will also have an opportunity if the race develops in his favor.

"I was convinced to race the Worlds," Pozzato explained. "After Hamburg [30 July] I went for 10 days to Livigno [altitude training] and then restarted from there. I rode very strong in Plouay and the Tour of Britain, but in the end it was a matter of waiting for Ballerini's confirmation. ... I hope to have gained the credit to play my own cards, without forgetting that the captain is Bettini and that there is Di Luca."

Before you start thinking of a possible coup, remember that Pippo has known Bettini since their day's at Mapei, and that it was the same 25 year-old who busted his tail for Il Grillo throughout this season.

"At Flanders I could have won," continued Pippo, who had just come off of winning Sanremo two weeks earlier. "I made myself available to Bettini. And even at Sanremo, I waited until the last meters to ensure that Boonen or Bettini were not coming back. And for the Italian Championships, I was there to help Bettini win."

So the World Championships will be one of the last races that Bettini and Pozzato will race as teammates in 2006. Switching over to Liquigas in 2007, Pippo, along with mate Guido Trenti, will trade in his Time for a Specialized Machine (yet to be confirmed), and take technical guidance from the last Italian World Champion, Mario Cipollini.

Read:
Liquigas Announces - Pippo, Cipo and Specialized, 18 September

2006 Squadra Azzurra On the Road

Yesterday, from their base in Gazzada (Varese), the 2006 Squadra Azzurra put in some of the first kilometers together. The 11 members (including two reserves, likely Tonti and Ferrara) hit the roads around Lago Maggiore as part of the final preparations leading to a golden bid in Sunday's World Championship Road Race.

All dressed in Azzurro-colored kits, including a matching colored Bianchi for Luca Paolini, the Italians seemed as though they were in an early season training camp when they left the hotel at 9.30; loosely organized and still getting to know their "new teammates." But after a few hours they were tight-knit and showing the smooth turn of pedals that can only come late in the year.

Italian National DS, Franco Ballerini, will guide the boys for another loop around Varese today. Ballerini, driving a car supplied by Lampre-Fondital, will take the 2006 Squadra Azzurra on a five and a half hour run, including the climb in Luino. Then the Squadra Azzurra will shower and leave their base for Salzburg, Austria. At 19.30 they will board a chartered flight to take the team from Malpensa to the home of Mozart.

Read:
11 Italians Arrive in Varese for Pre-Worlds Training, 19 September
Ballerini Announces Squadra Azzurra, 15 September
Squadra Azzurra Salzburg Travel Arrangements, 2 September

Liquigas Worlds Duo: Paolini and Di Luca

Danilo Di Luca and Luca Paolini are representing the two riders from Liquigas who will take part in the 2006 World Championships. Both of the Italians have come off a successful run in Spain at the Vuelta a España; both with a stage, while Di Luca had a stint in the maillot oro.

"I am not completely satisfied with my 2006 season," clarified The Killer. "At the Worlds I will give my best so that we can take the rainbow jersey back home to Italy."

Di Luca's 2006 season was not as brilliant as his 2005 season, where he became the first ever ProTour champion by winning a fist full of spring races. Surely a successful fall run, already started by a superb Spanish stage win on La Covatilla, will change the 2006 outlook.

"I am lacking the wins that I had last year," explained Di Luca, back in the Squadra Azzurra after a two year absence. "But at the Worlds I will arrive ready, with the condition that I obtained in the Vuelta... Also Paolo Bettini is going very well. I think that Ballerini has created a great squadra, and we are ready to go for Sunday."

Liquigas teammate, Luca Paolini, also was at the Vuelta, taking stage 12 after a day spent in a successful escape group. Il Milanese is the last Italian to receive a medal in the World Championships, when he finished third in the sprint finish on the streets of Verona (2004).

"I think we will have to pay very close attention to riders like Valverde and Vinokourov," said Paolini. "Then there is current World Champion, Tom Boonen, German Stefan Schumacher, winner of two ProTour races in the last month, Erik Zabel and Stuart O'Grady. Over the distance of the race it will be hard to eliminate all of our dangerous rivals."

Vino Races Worlds Crono and Road Race

2006 Vuelta a España Champion, Alexander Vinokourov (Astaná), wanted to make sure his form was in place before deciding to race the World Time Trial Championships. The 33 year-old Kazakh had already decided to form part of the three-man team for the road race on Sunday but, after a demanding three-week affair in Spain, was waiting to see if his legs were there to have a go in tomorrow's individual test. Last night, after already arriving in Salzburg, Vino announced he would race both events.

Why not? The Kazakh showed he was unstoppable on every type of terrain during the Vuelta. In Vino's three stage wins he won a sprint (stage 8 into Lugo), a mountain top finish (the following day, stage 9 to Alto de La Cobertoria) and a time trial (stage 20 in Rivas). Then, one of the most decisive stages, Vino took a minute and a half from his main rival on the blistering descent into Granada before finishing second to Tom Danielson.

The reality is that a time trial in a Grand Tour is very different from the Worlds. Consider the distance, 27K in the Vuelta versus 50.8K in the Worlds, and the timing. The Rivas time trial came after two weeks of racing whereas in the Worlds Vino will face fresh rivals with the crono as their sole objective, such as Michael Rogers.

Vino may have a better chance of snatching the rainbow jersey in the road race. His punchy and aggressive style will match the parcours of the 2006 event perfectly. Vino, along with Andrey Kashechkin and Serguei Yakovlev, will form the Kazakh three-man squadra

.

The disadvantage of numbers will hopefully work in Vino's favor, playing off the bigger squadras, like Italy and Spain, to vie for victory. But it is a shame that such a cycling-strong nation, as Kazakhstan has now become, is only allowed to start with three riders and a nation like Iran is starting with six.

"We are not a great force in the world of cycling but the others are able to start with nine members. I think that this difference is a bit excessive," said Vino modestly.

World Championships, Salzburg (Austria), 24 & 24 September
Worlds Preview
Time Trial, Profile, Overall Map, TT Startlist
Road Race, Profile, Overall Map, RR Startlist

19 September News ...