Management

LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI (LAM) - ITA

The blue-fuchsia Lampre jersey has been in cycling for nineteen years and will again be part of the UCI ProTour peloton.

Team Manager Giuseppe Saronni has revolutionised the Lampre line-up for 2010, keeping riders like Damiano Cunego but bringing in experienced sprinter Alessandro Petacchi and some of the best young Italian riders in the sport. Former World Champion Alessandro Ballan has left but the Lampre team appears to be as strong as ever.

Cunego had a contrasting 2009 but is still the team leader at Lampre-Farnese Vini. He is set to focus more on the hilly one-day classics and individual stages, rather than the overall classification in stage races, but could still emerge as a contender for top spot in the UCI World Ranking.

Petacchi is now 36 but is still one of the fastest sprinters in the world. Saronni has carefully built a lead-out train to help him in the sprints, signing Germany’s Danilo Hondo and Italians Danilo Furlan and Lorenzo Bernucci. The Lampre lead out-train is likely to go shoulder to shoulder with Team Columbia, Garmin-Slipstream and Team Milram in all the big sprints.

Italian cycling is undergoing a generation change and Lampre has invested in the future by signing Adriano Malori, Alfredo Balloni and Diego Ulissi.

Ulissi is a former double World Juniors road race Champion, while Malori was Under 23 time trial World Champion in 2008. Balloni is only 20 but is expected to mature into a stage race contender. Remember their names.

“We’ve changed the direction of the team for 2010 by signing Petacchi and letting Ballan go but I’m convinced that we will be even more successful, especially with Cunego and in the future with the talented young riders,” Saronni said.