Oct 22, 2005
Simoni to Saunier Duval
The Simoni Roulette wheel landed on yellow, when Saunier Duval offered up a spot to Gilberto Simoni. Simoni accepted on Friday. It was an obvious pick for both Simoni and Saunier Team Management. Simoni had offers from continental teams with ProTour ambitions such as Unibet.com and Naturino, and probably many others. (Hmmm, why didn’t AG2R try to sign Simoni?) Gibo did not want to risk being on a non-Pro Tour team at age 34, so the choice was pretty clear. Gibo joins his old team manager Pietro Algeri who guided Lampre back when Simoni won his first Giro. The Giro is pretty much Gibo’s main goal for next year, so he is pretty clear as team leader for that race since Juan Manuel Garate will be riding for Quick-Step. Simoni’s teammate next year will be prodigal cyclist David Millar, who is coming back from a two year drug suspension just in time for the Tour de France.