The Farnese Vini-Selle Italia was presented to the World today, at the Francesco Paolo Tosti Theatre in Ortona, on the Italian Abruzzo coast. The unmistakeable flouro-yellow outfit was one of the most successful Professional Continental teams in 2011, and hopes to continue in that vein in the coming season.
“We are proud to continue our cycling project, which is alive thanks to a solid group of sponsors who continue to believe in cycling, in us, and our athletes,” said team manager Angelo Citracca. “With Farnese Vini as main sponsor, along with Selle Italia, and the group MCipollini of Federico Zecchetto, as well as Cecchi Logistica, Pagliaroli Vetri and newcomers like Mauro Cei of Macolive SpA, we can look with optimism to our future.
“Last year we focused, succeeding in the Italian Championship, and along with that came many other victories,” he continued. “This year, thanks to the arrival of [Filippo] Pozzato, we aim even higher, with a great result in one of the Classics, and then continue with the Giro d’Italia – if we have the honour to ride it again this year – trying to win in a sprint with [Andrea] Guardini and with [Oscar] Gatto and Pozzato in some other stage.
“We want to continue to improve."
The team’s young sprinter Guardini was one of the sensations of the year, taking and incredible eleven victories in his debut professional season, while Gatto took the team’s biggest victory of the year with the prestigious Tropea stage of the Giro d’Italia.
The team’s biggest rider, Italian champion Giovanni Visconti, may have departed for WorldTour team Movistar, but he has been replaced by former tricolore Pozzato, who is raring to go after three largely disappointing years at Katusha.
"We have a unique group of athletes ready to collect results,” said Luca Scinto, directeur sportif and technical manager of the team,” such as Gatto, Guardini and Pozzato; the latter came to us to rediscover himself and a hunger for victories.
“Upon them will weigh great responsibility, with the Classics and Giro d'Italia, but with them we have gathered an exciting pool of young talent, which I'm sure will give a lot to the team,” he continued. “I'm talking about [Matteo] Rabottini, [Thomas] Bertolini, [Alfredo] Balloni, [Elia] Favilli and [Pierpaolo] De Negri; all young guys that will stand out in 2012 along with their captains.”
As a former domestique himself, for some of the biggest riders in the sport, Scinto understands more than most that the big stars’ moments of glory would not be possible without the hard work of their less famous teammates.
“Without athletes like [Luca] Mazzanti, [Francesco] Failli, [Leonardo] Giordani, [Diego] Caccia, [Davide] Ricci Bitti, [Kevin] Hulsmans, [Cristian] Benenati, [Gianluca] Mirenda, [Luca] Ascani and [Roberto] De Patre, our captains would not be able to win,” he said, “and I know what it's like to work hard for your captain. Also, our young people should not be in a hurry, so Rafael Andriano, our only neo-pro, I ask nothing of yet, just seriousness and professionalism."
Despite the acquisition of new sponsor Selle Italia, the team’s racing strip will change very little, with its flouro-yellow topped jersey and black shorts; the team will also continue to ride the MCipollini bikes of the Italian ‘Re Leone’ sprint legend.