Swiss Mauro Gianetti, with new sponsor Geox in place, is in a race to secure riders and a ProTour licence renewal for next season.
He is in a difficult situation. He needs a solid list of riders to present to the UCI to have his licence renewed, but he needs guarantee of the top-level ProTour licence to attract new riders.
Geox is an Italian shoe company based in Veneto with sales worldwide. Its president Mario Moretti Polegato is interested in signing riders from his home region: Filippo Pozzato and Damiano Cunego top the list. Pozzato has already renewed with team Katusha, leaving Polegato's focus on Cunego.
Cunego has a long history with the company. He was sponsored by Diadora, which Geox bought and re-launched. Geox is also a sub-sponsor of Cunego's current team, Lampre-Farnese.
Lampre and Italy's other top team, Liquigas, are both interested in having Cunego for next year.
Outside of Italy, Gianetti has only a few top international riders to choose from. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that he is interested in signing Russian Denis Menchov (currently with Rabobank), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo), Janez Brajkovic or Chris Horner (the last two with RadioShack, which may become tangled in the Lance Armstrong investigation). Gianetti, according to Tuttobiciweb, is also interested in signing Fränk and Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank).
The Budget exists – estimated between €6m to €10m annually for up to five years – but there are some problems. Gianetti's Footon-Servetto team is currently not ranked in the top 17 (in 29th) teams of the World Rankings, which would guarantee its participation in some of next year's top races.
The UCI may also decide to punish Gianetti for past mistakes by not renewing his ProTour licence. In 2008, his Saunier Duval team helped introduce cycling to CERA, the third generation of EPO, via the positives of Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli at the Tour de France. They took three stages between them at that year's race, but French police escorted them from the race after anti-doping testers announced they had doped.
The UCI awards ProTour licences on November 20, based on "sporting, ethical, financial and administrative" criteria. Gianetti has held the Spanish licence since 2005 with teams Saunier Duval, Fuji, Footon-Servetto and, he hopes, with Geox in 2011.
Geox "contacted me in June and asked me to present a plan," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "I talked to the president and he told me of his desire to enter cycling because it is one with tradition, followed by the public, practiced by all ages and in the open air. The same philosophy that his company loves."
Geox will also have a women's team, taking over Safi-Pasta Zara, and will continue using Fuji bicycles. Claudio Corti will join as head sports director and may bring along the sponsor from his former Saeco team, Caffita.