Feels stage and top ten for Santambrogio and two prizes for Andriato justifies organiser’s trust, despite Di Luca positive
Vini Fantini-Selle Italia is looking back on what it sees as a highly successful edition of the Giro d’Italia, despite what it refers to as the “vicissitude” of Danilo Di Luca’s non-negative pre-race test for EPO. The giallo fluo team picked up a stage victory and ninth overall through Mauro Santambrogio, while Rafael Andriato took both the Traguardo Volante intermediate sprint classification and the ‘Fuga Pinarello’ prize for having spent most kilometres in breakaways.
"We are pleased with the Giro we did and we hope to have paid off the trust of organisers with our will in every stage, to whom we will always make our most deepest apologies for the vicissitude that has involved us at the end of this splendid edition of the Giro,” said team manager Angelo Citracca. “But we are confident that together with over four hundred messages received by all the team and our sponsors, even the public is aware of the true philosophy of our project. Now we are ready to continue on the path we have laid out in the last five years, hoping to pick up some other very good results.”
Santambrogio’s stage victory came on one of the toughest days of the race, as he managed to drop all but eventual winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) on the steep climb to the Jafferau above Bardonecchia. The 28-year-old flirted with the podium for several days, as those above him in the classification faltered, but suffered in both the mountain time trial to Polsa and the penultimate stage to the Tre Cime di Laverado.
"The stage won by Santambrogio was extraordinary, as well as the performance of the whole group,” Citracca said. “Our rider worked well and have ridden according to our team philosophy, based on team building and interpretation of racing in an active way, as protagonists, which made us differentiate with a strong image of a combative team.
“I hope this Giro has also repaid the trust of all our precious and unique sponsors," he added.
Directeur sportif Luca Scinto alos paid tribute to his team, particularly Santambrogio who joined over the winter after three years at BMC Racing.
"I can only be satisfied by Mauro Santambrogio, a guy that, since November, has really lived the life of the cyclist to maximise his results,”’ Scinto said. “And the results have arrived: in the first week he was super, he did well also in the second one, winning the 14th stage and finally he fell in the third one, but managed to defend the ninth position.
“To be in the top ten of a race like Giro d'Italia is always a great result and Mauro can be really happy,” Scinto added. “It was normal he had a decline in the third week because since January Mauro has always been at a high level, but this Giro gives us a young athlete with the right experience, maturing into a leader and also thinking about the classification of an important race.
“Now he really deserves an holiday, and then return to the races later this month.”
Without mentioning Di Luca, about whom Scinto has stated he was unhappy about including in the team, Scinto praised each of his riders for playing their part in the team’s race.
“I'm happy for the performance of every one our boys,” he said. “[Alessandro] Proni superlative; [Oscar] Gatto and [Matteo] Rabottini were brilliant but they have not excelled unfortunately, but we'll make during the summer; [Francesco] Chicchi and [Fabio] Taborre were unlucky; Andriato got experience and overcome great difficulties for a guy that is a sprinter, and measured up to the difficulties of a great race.
“[Stefano] Garzelli, to which I recognise elegance,” he concluded of the 2000 Giro winner, who was honoured by the peloton as it reached Brescia on the final stage. “Able to keep the group together in and out of the race, being close to Mauro Santambrogio, and teaching him to be a cyclist for stage races; a very useful thing for Mauro’s future.”