Lombard rider relishes step up to WorldTour team and the chance to ride with Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre-ISD has today confirmed what has been an open secret since the summer, in that Roberto Ferrari will join the blue-fuchsia team - which will be called Lampre-Merida - in 2013. The sprinter from the province of Brescia, in eastern Lombardy, has spent the last two years with Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela but, at the age of 29 will finally make the step up to the WorldTour.
Ferrari will join current teammates Jose Serpa and Miguel Armando Ubeto, who also move up to the WorldTour in 2013.
"I'm very happy, this is the best possible evolution for my career,” he said. “In the past seasons I got beautiful satisfaction, now I'm willing to face new experiences. I'll have important spurs and I think it will be very exciting racing in the same team of [Alessandro] Petacchi.”
Ferrari has the reputation of being a sprinter that can manage to get over the hills, which at least partly explains how he was able to finish the last two editions of the Giro d’Italia - the only ones that he has started. He took an impressive stage victory in Montecatini Terme in this year’s race, beating then World champion Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) to the line; he created bigger headlines earlier in the race though, when his change of line brought down a number of riders, including Cavendish and Maglia Rosa Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing).
Ferrari was initially defiant over the incident, saying that he had done nothing wrong but, having seen the TV replays, apologised to those that had crashed.
In addition to his Giro stage, Ferrari also won a stage of the Tour of Taiwan, the Route Adélie de Vitré, and the Flèche d'Emeraude in 2012. His other biggest results though, include the 2009 edition of the Memorial Marco Pantani, and the GP Lugano and Giro del Friuli in 2010.
"We're happy to allow Roberto to test himself in the World Tour,” said Lampre-ISD’s general manager Giuseppe Saronni. “Considering his qualities and the results he obtained until now, I think he's ready for this new challenge. The group of sprinters of the team will be very competitive.”