The Italian Liquigas-Doimo team has confirmed that it has extended the contracts of fourteen of its current riders. The acid-green team already managed to hold on to its team leaders Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali during May’s Giro d’Italia, as well as Slovakian brothers Peter and Juraj Sagan. It is now securing the rest of the team to support its captains and build for the future.
“We intend to give continuity to a team that, in these seasons, has been shown to be competitive anywhere,” said team manager Roberto Amadio. “Our focus is projected towards the future, which is why it was vital to confirm the first nucleus of young riders. It's not a gamble but a philosophy in which we believe deeply.
“The results we are giving reason and, together with a group of expert and reliable riders, we are convinced that we can top Italian and world cycling.”
The team has already lost Croatian Robert Kiserlovski and Czech Roman Kreuziger, as with the team committing to Basso and Nibali both see their Grand Tour ambitions better served elsewhere. The Eastern European flavour of the team is retained though, with the presence of three riders from Poland and one from Slovenia.
Of the fourteen names, ten are 25-years-old or younger.
Riders with contracts extended through 2012:
Daniel Oss (Italy), Jacopo Guarnieri (Italy), Valerio Agnoli (Italy), Davide Cimolai (Italy), Fabio Sabatini (Italy), Alessandro Vanotti (Italy), Elia Viviani (Italy), Kristjan Koren (Slovenia), Maciej Bodnar (Poland) and Sylwester Szmyd (Poland)
Riders with contracts extended through 2011:
Mauro Finetto (Italy), Francesco Bellotti (Italy), Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Italy) and Maciej Paterski (Poland)