Contrary to a number of rumours, the Fuji-Servetto team will continue into 2010 after securing a new title sponsor in Swiss health and care marketing company Footon. According to a team statement, the necessary paperwork has been filed with the UCI’s ProTour council in time for today’s deadline. Footon specialises particularly in insoles designed to correct postural defects; the team’s name will become Footon-Servetto from January 1st.
The Fuji-Servetto team was created from the ashes of the Scott-American Beef team, which had previously been Saunier Duval-Scott. A succession of high profile positive doping controls in the 2007 and 2008 seasons – including Iban Mayo (EPO), Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli (both CERA) – saw first Saunier Duval, and then Scott Bicycles pull out.
Despite securing new sponsors in bike manufacturer Fuji and furniture company Servetto, the team found itself punished for previous seasons’ scandals and failed to receive invitations to many of the sport’s major races. The team missed out on both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, but successfully appealed to the Court for Arbitration in Sport to keep its place in the Vuelta a España.
How similar the 2010 team will look to the team of 2009 is not clear but there is clear indication that Footon-Servetto will be searching for a different image to the one it had as Saunier Duval-Scott.
“The team’s roster, which is set to ride in the most important races in the world calendar will experience a full transformation,” said the official team statement, “in a strong bet for youth, mixing together some of the best talents in European cycling, looking for an international squad that commits itself to the sport’s cleanliness, a value also preached by their leading sponsors.”