Wheelchair-bound rider takes up administrative post with “her team”; still determined to ride again
“Not a revolution, but close to it,” was how team owner Maurizio Fabretto described the 2012 line up of Diadora-Pasta Zara, at the team’s presentation in Treviso, northern Italy. After a largely disappointing 2011 season, which saw the high-profile team take just two UCI victories, there has been a huge change of personnel; returning the team to its predominantly Italian and Lithuanian roots.
The biggest name signing is, of course, the return of two-time World champion Giorgia Bronzini, who spent much of her career with the Veneto-based team.
"Here the atmosphere is good, in every sense,” said the world champion. “Because of Diana Ziliute, great champion and now my sports director; I am proud to have her at my side.
“The team is very strong on paper,” she continued. “Is it all for Giorgia? Yes, but Girogia is also for all. In the sense that the strategies we decide will depend on how the races are going, but the team will always be compact, united and motivated; it is this atmosphere that reigns here: all for the team.
Like most of the top riders, Bronzini will have one major target for 2012.
“My goal for the season? It’s well known,” she said. “The London Olympics. The road race will probably be decided in a sprint finish and I want to be there..."
The majority of the US riders, who joined the team in 2011, have now departed, with the only remaining Austrian-based American Amber Pierce. Claudia Häusler, has also departed for the new GreenEDGE-AIS team, while Olga Zabelinskaya has joined the new RusVelo team.
As well as Bronzini, the team welcomes a number of members of the Italian national team, including Alessandra D’Ettorre, and prodigious young talent Rosella Callovi.
In addition to the new riders, the team has also announced that injured rider Marina Romoli is to take up an official role as team manager. The 23-year-old from Marche was hit by a car while training in June 2010 and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since; she is determined that she will ride again however.
"We all hope that one day Marina can return to cycling,” explained Fabretto. “In the meantime, for us, she is a part of our team; today she assumes the position of team manager"
The team has been dedicated to Romoli ever since her accident, while the Italian team at the 2010 World championships each had a letter of her name on the palm of their gloves; Bronzini made a heart shape with her fingers as she took both of her World championship victories.