Venezuelan Jose Rujano is in the process of working out an agreement to ride the Giro d'Italia with the Footon-Fuji-Servetto ProTour team next month. Following his win at the Tour de Langkawi, Rujano looked like he would fare well in the Italian Grand Tour with a route that is well suited for climbers. Instead, his Pro Continental ISD-Neri team was left off the invite list amidst stiff competition for wild card spots.
It looked like he would be forced to watch the race on television with the rest of his team until today, when his mentor Hernán Alemán told the El Nacional, "We are close to an agreement [with Footon-Servetto-Fuji]."
Alemán admitted there are still some details that needed to be worked out, but said, "I think Rujano is about 85% or 90% on the way to riding with Footon because his team, ISD-Neri, was not among those invited to participate in the 2010 Giro d'Italia."
The development would be great news for the Swiss-Spanish squad, as it would give the team a solid rider for the general classification.
It’s been five years since Rujano took the peloton by surprise by winning a stage, the mountains classification and finishing on the podium in the Giro d’Italia. The 23-year-old then moved on to the Quick Step team in 2006 and had a bad year. He also failed to have success with the Unibet team the following season.
Caisse d’Epargne team gave him a chance in 2008 with his best result being sixth overall in the Deutschland Tour, but that wasn't enough to renew his contract with the team. He then rode for the small Venezuelan team, Gobernación del Zulia, in 2009.
Now it looks like the Venezuelan will have a chance to redeem himself in the race that gave him his big chance in 2005.