With the new season getting closer and close, Colnago - CSF Inox is getting ready for the upcoming season. But first, a little about the teams rich history in cycling. Being formed in 1982 the team has been managed by Bruno Reverberi ever since. The past 2 years the team was known as CSF Group-Navigare. Navigare has been an on-and-off title-sponsor since 1990. However this year it's Colnago who is the main title sponsor together with CSF Inox Group. The team will ride with a Professional Continental License and is registered in Ireland. Like mentioned Bruno Reverberi has been the General Manager of the team since 1982, and that won't change as the man has already dedicated 27 years of his life to this team. But this year there is a new DS, Michael Philips. The 42-year old Belgian will get his chance in the big leagues after of successful season as a youth coach.
In the past years, the main goal of the team has been to develop future Italian stars. But with our manager getting a few years older, he wants to build a solid team, again with youngster, but this time he wants to make it all the way to the Pro Tour with them!
While your here, you can find additional information about the team at the following pages:
Although officially based in Ireland, the team is fully Italian. Because of that it's more then logical that the team will ride most of the Italian race calender with the Giro as the highlight of the year. Over the season we hope to get some stages with out sprinters, and we hope for some overalls with Pozzovivo. This will also be the first serious taste of Pro Tour races for the new DS.
All the riders have their personal goals for the season, i'm sure of that. But they are not alone. The sponsors want to see our team shine in important races for them. And if we succeed we can get an extra bonus, which will come in handy for transfers at the end of the season. But that's for later. So here are our goals for the upcoming season.
Win, Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
Top 3, Milano - Torino
Top 3, Giro dell'Emilia
Top 3, Settimana Coppi e Bartali
Stage win(s), Tirreno - Adriatico
Stage win(s), Giro della Provincia di Grosseto
The 2010 started off, as usual, with the Aussi Championships. First there was the Time-Trial, which was won by Rogers in front of Evans and Day. In the Road Race, Rogers almost made the double, but Gerrans was stronger, winning the first race for Team Sky. Evans became third.
More near the end of january, it was the Tour Down Under. We weren't racing there because we decided to start the season of in Italy in the Giro della Calabria. Mark Cavendish dominated the TDU. Winning 3 stages, and becoming second in the other 3. With that he took the overall, points and youth classification. A very good start of the season for the Manxman.
After the TDU, it was time for our first race of the 2010 season, the Giro della Calabria. A 4-day stage race, which has a purpose to get some racing rhythm before the Giro della Provincia di Grosseto, our first sponsor goal. We did have a nice surprise here. Although we didn't win any stages, Pozzovivo won the overall classification after being the most consistent during the 2 hilly stages. Mazzanti became second, Pedersen third.
A few days later, we raced the Gran Premio Costa degli Etruschi as our last preparation towards our first goal. Van Dijk won the race in a typical unorganized sprint, Riccio became second in front of Neyens. Belleti managed 4th and Modolo 6th.
Now, we are heading to Giro della Provincia di Grosseto were we need a stage win for our sponsors. This won't be so easy, seeing it has only 3 stages. But we hope for the best!
