Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

According to tuttobiciweb.com Jose Rujano has signed for Unibet.com. The deal was struck yesterday afternoon at the Malpensa airport terminal. All details are complete for the deal that will see the tiny climber return to the peloton after being dumped by Quick-Step.
Rujano looked to be a breakout climbing star after the 2005 Giro where he [...]

Wladmir “Sugar Ray” Belli is in fourth place 7:35 behind Ivan Basso. Thanks to a breakaway that let the Italian veteran gain back some time on GC and a very good performance on La Thuile, Selle Italia has a new team leader. This is good news for a team that had to deal with the [...]

(pic from eurosport.com)
The Giro started this weekend and may have ended this weekend too. Ivan Basso put down a Lance Armstrong/Miguel Indurain type of performance on the first real mountin top finish of the Giro. As Carlos Sastre set a tempo reminiscent of Discovery Channel/Postal leadout of the past seven years, Basso simply clicked [...]

Jose Rujano nearly stole the Giro last year in the epic stage to Sestriere which tackled some brutal climbs. I still remember seeing the look of exhaustion on Gilberto Simoni’s face as he could simply no hold on the the tiny climbers wheel on the “big ring” climb to Sestrierre. Rujano was not far off [...]

Jose Rujano is pulling a Terrell Owens type move on his small Italian team Selle Italia. Rujano wants to renegotiate his contract to get more money and focus his efforts on the Tour de France. Jose Rujano was the bust out revelation of a legendary Giro D’Italia in 2005. The little Venezualan climber looks to [...]

Jose Rujano and Selle Italia team manager Gianni Savio have been having problems lately. Rujano’s scratch from the Tour of Langkawi is a sign of bigger problems between the small Italian team and Venezualan climber.

Since the little climber’s surprising third place finish at the Giro in 2005 things have not gone smoothly for Rujano and [...]

Gianni Savio has been signing more Italians lately and that may be due to a change in sponsorships. Sprinter Angelo Furlan formerly of Liquigas, Italian Santo Anza and Columbian Fredy “so fast he only needs one d” Gonzalez were signed to the squad to join such veterans as Vlad “Casius” Belli. They round out the [...]