Damiano Cunego surprisingly beat Franck Schleck up the final Cauberg climb to win Amstel Gold. The revenge must be sweet after losing to Schleck at L’Alpe D’Huez in 2006. Cunego now looks to be the favorite going into Liege-Bastonge-Liege since it is better suited to his abilities. Lampre has also announced the Tour de France lineup backing up Damiano Cunego which in all likelyhood is a bid to win the race.
Lampre will also line up their sprinter Danilo Napolitano, Marco Marzano, Daniele Righi, Paolo Tiralongo and ‘Patxi’ Vila. “We clearly aim at winning the overall classification of the Tour de France with Cunego this year,” directeur sportif Bruno Vicino said on the start line of the 7th stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey in Antalya. Two other Lampre riders have yet to be chosen.
cyclingnews.com
Cunego has been slowly getting his ducks lined up to tackle the Tour as a GC contender. Since his foray into France in 2006 where he impressed with a Best Young Rider jersey win and 11th place overall. The key factor in his BYR jersey win was his much improved Time Trialing ability. This is a skill that is key to winning in France. Now that it looks like Damiano and Lampre are putting in a serious bid for the yellow it will be interesting to see how he lines up against other favorites such as Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans.
Igor Astarloa is one man who can attest to the legendary curse of the Rainbow Jersey. The Spanish Classics expert who would rather ride on Italian teams (sounds like Oscar Friere) has been in the doldrums since his 2003 World Championship victory in Hamilton Ontario. After winning with Saeco Astarloa switched over to French outfit Cofidis for 2004.
That spring all hell broke loose with drug allegations surrounding the team. Several riders were under suspicion and team management decided to suspend the team from competition until they could resolve the situation. Astarloa was not involved in any of the drug issues, but the suspension of team activities happened during his beloved Spring Classics.
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38 year old Fabio Baldato is not going to ride his last few years on a continental squad. Baldato is moving back to the ProTour signing a one year deal with Lampre. The old man is riding for Tenax Salmilano where he won a stage in the Tour of Austria. Tenax Salmilano teammate Paolo Bossoni who has been red hot in the Italian one days races during August is rumored to join him at Lampre.
Damiano Cungeo can recall the glory days of 2004 when he won the Giro del Trentino and the GP Larciano on his way to a surprise victory in the Giro D’Italia. He became the sixth youngest winner of the Giro at 22 years, 8 months and 11 days.
This year in fact Cunego feels better than 2004 since he is coming into the Giro with six win under his belt compared to 2004 when he had five victories. Compared to 2005 when he only had four wins all season. Plus, he placed third in Liege-Bastonge-Liege.
“Damiano is ready” says Direttore Sportivo Giuseppe Martinelli. At the Giro we have a squad that is built around Damiano that is very strong in the climbs where they can actual help.
The favorite has to be Ivan Basso who can gain many minutes in the Time Trials. But there are many climbs in the Giro this year, so we must attack.
Gazzetta dello sport
Gilberto Simoni is a happier man this year. He is on his own team with former team manager Pietro Algeri who guided his Lampre team when he won the Giro in 2001. Life is better than 2004 when Simoni felt up ended by the young upstart Damiano Cunego. Simoni was one of the few Italians that wasn’t cheering for the young prospect who won the hearts of Italian fans only a few months after the death of Marco Pantani. Gibo was so sore at Cunego’s win that he was seen shouting some less than professional remarks at “The kid” during a maglia rosa presentation.
Last year Gibo was able to reassert himself as leader of Lampre as Cunego was not on form due to a bout with Epstein Barr syndrome. Gibo placed second behind a scrappy performance by Paolo Salvodelli and ahead of a very dangerous Jose Rujano.
This year’s Giro has a tough last week that makes Simoni happy with his chances. With a more relaxed and supportive team atmosphere, Simoni will definately be a protagonist once again. His track record in the Giro is very good as he either wins or is close to the top just about every year. The double Giro champ has some stiff competition as always. But Gibo can relax since the Italian hype machine is not focusig on the Battaliga Italiana like it did last year when all eyes were on seeing part two of the intra-team rivalry between Simoni and Cunego.
Danilo Napolitano the Sicilian sprinter for Lampre Fondital won the first semi-stage at the Settimana Coppi and Bartali. Napolitano improved on his fifth place showing in Milano San Remo. Although most of the top sprinters that beat him were not present today.
In the second half stage- a team time trial, CSC got a rare 2006 early season win. The unlucky squad finally got through with no injuries and actually grabbed the leaders jersey which now sits on David Zabriske’s shoulders. The CSC winning riders included: Gustov, Lombardi, Zabriskie, Klostegaard, Piil, Luttenberger, Blaudzun and Sorensen. They beat Gerolsteiner by 5 seconds and T-Mobile by 8 seconds.
Gazzetta Dello Sport
Alessandro Petacchi took his first win of 2006 with the sprint victory in the GP delle Costa Etruschi. AleJet responded in the “Battle of Sprint Kings” with a convincing win on home turf.
(photo from Grande Ciclismo)
The win was not easy as the race was hard from the start with several attacks. Team Milram and Lampre then took control of the race for their respective sprinters. Petacchi took the wrapping off his new team, while Lampre were setting up for their new sprint man Daniele Bennati.
A break involving two riders-Pietropolli (Tenax) and Cuesta (Endeka)-had a lead of 3 minutes going into the final circuit, but the gap was brought back down in time to allow Petacchi and Bennati to place 1,2 respectively.
“My teammates did a great job to keep the race together. I took off too early in the sprint because I saw Napolitano breaking away at 250 meters. I thought that he was trying to contest the sprint, so I started sprinting. He was actually working for Bennati, but it was too late for me to do anything about it. I can now say that I am happy with my form after a 200km race. I am not as good on the climbs, but in the sprints I am going well. I will now train very intensively this week and then head out to the Ruta del Sol.” — Petacchi
“Today Petacchi showed a great deal of strength. There was nothing anyone could do, so I am satisfied with the result and how we raced. The team worked perfectly. My next goal is the Giro del Mediterraneo” — Bennati
Grande Ciclismo
The new kits for 2006 are slowly dribbling out. Some teams have stayed the same, such as Bouyges Telecom and T-Mobile, while others are changed for various reasons.
Each year provides subtle gasps at the Euro-uglyness of some team kit, or the new cool style. Case in point is the Lampre team kit for 2006. Squares in non-symetrical alignment just don’t do it for me or anyone else. What is with the pink? It is distinctive, but it is not a corporate color for either Lampre or Fondital. Damiano Cunego does not look to happy with the new style. His face seems to be saying, who the heck decided on this design? Blah. The new kit is designed by Santini which usually makes some classy kits, but this one is average by comparison.
Winning races does make the kit look cooler, so we will have to see what the final verdict for the Lampre new look will be at the end of the season.
One feature that makes this kit stand out more is the toning down of the blue color. With several teams already sporting a mostly blue kit, there is fear that it would be hard to notice different teams. Remember Paris Roubaix 2005? Boonen, Hincapie and Flecha all had blue team kits, and they each looked a bit similar. It was hard to tell from some helicopter shots just who was who since they each blended in blue with grey or white. So points go to Lampre for adding a bit more pink to the kit to make it stand out more. Just don’t ride to close to any T-Mobile guys.
This came off of the news at TuttoBici this morning saying that reports saying that Igor Astarloa has signed for Liquigas are not true. Last heard around Velochimp offices was that Astarloa was mulling over a contract offer from Lampre, but that wasn’t sweet enough. Todociclismo has the story about Astarloa and buddy Peio Arreitunandia signing for Liquigas. TuttoBici says has a quote from Liquigas Team Manager Roberto Amadio saying:
We have had contact with Igor Astarloa, but there was no offer since we already have 28 riders which we feel is enough to tackle the intense new cycling season that awaits us.
Astarloa y Arreitunandia fichan por el Liquigas
Tuttobici Web
Igor Astarloa has more or less returned to a top level team by rejoining Lampre-Fondital for 2006. He is anxious to get back to winning big races after being with the smaller Barloworld Team last year. The best way to get back into racing Igor feels is to get a big win right away, and he is pointing to the first Classic on the calendar, Milan-San Remo.
If I want to return to the top level, I will need to get an important win. I have been thinking of Milan-San Remo as a goal. Being with a top team such as Lampre with the guarantee of racing the big races, will help me achieve this goal better.
Another goal for the seaon is a Grand Tour, but Astarloa is not yet sure which one he will aim to race.
Lampre: Astarloa `Ora punto alle classiche`- Yahoo! Sport
