If it ain't broke, don't fix it
The Vespa-Caffrey's team will continue unchanged into the new season. The Giro di Italia and the Giro di Lomardia are the races the team will be targetting next year, and to get invites to these races, it's likely management will look to reshape the team a little in order to really make the race organizers sit up and take notice. Strong showings at Tirenno-Adriatico and the Italian Championships this past season hopefully will not have gone unnoticed in this respect. Jersey design is yet to be finalized, but like the team, it is expected to be updated a little for the new season.
"I'm not expecting radical changes at Vespa over the transfer period. We have a good group of riders who get on well with each other and are happy at the team. Ideally, what we'll see are one or two going and one or two coming in," was Fenian's comment when asked recently.
Goodbye Danilo, Hello Gert
Following the demise of the Rabobank team, it is with mixed feelings that the Vespa-Caffrey's team announce the collapse of the permanent transfer of Danilo Napolitano to the team.
Napolitano was a key man in the Vespa ranks last year and delivered some important results for the team. Finishing as 32nd best rider in the Continental rankings was perhaps not as high as his abilities warranted, but the Vespa-Caffrey's team will retain fond memories of the enigmatic Italian sprinter who will surely ride in the Pro Tour next year and challenge Bennati in Giro sprints. Sadly, it will not be as a Vespa-Caffrey's rider. We wish him every success for the coming season.
The good news for the team is that Gert Steegmans will be returning. The powerful Belgian was the 18th best rider in the Pro Tour last year thanks to his versatility and it is understood that the team will be doing its best to make room for him. Countryman Andy Cappelle already rides for the team and more "hard men of the North" may follow as the team seeks to round out its classics pedigree and maybe even bring a new sponsor on board.
Here it is - the updated Vespa-Caffrey's jersey for the new season.
The team will be sponsored by:
Vespa
Caffrey's
Addidas
De Rosa
Campagnolo
Bell
Despite a very good season last year, the Vespa-Caffrey's team had some trouble in achieving their specific sponsor goals last time out.
This was very much in mind when management met with sponsors to thrash out goals for the coming season.
First for the team is what should be an achievable goal next season - a Top 10 in the team standings. Top 5 was the goal last year, and the team missed it finishing 6th. A similar position next year would see the team achieve its first goal.
It is hoped the team will be able to convince Fransesco Ginanni to stick around, and as well as a win at the Giro di Lombardia, he will be going all out to win the Giro dell'Emilia. Cunego won the PT event last year, and it's a course that should suit Ginanni's abilities. Ginanni will also target a Top 5 finish at the Giro di Lago di Garda. Another race the team feels capable of winning, a Top 5 should take the pressure off a little bit.
As previously noted, with the return of Gert Steegmans, Vespa will be looking to round out their classics pedigree. The team will be doing all it can to keep hold of him and hope he is able to deliver top 5's at the E3 Prijs and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. If his salary demands prove too high, expect to see Vespa scrambling to bring in a quality cobbled rider in the transfer season.
Contract renewals are finished for the Vespa-Caffrey's team and as managment had hoped just about the whole squad have renewed for the new season. Best news for fans of the team are that Francesco Ginanni will ride another season for Vespa before reviewing his options at season end. Also, good for the team with the goals that have been chosen is that Gert Steegmans has been persuaded to ride a season in the CT ranks. Manuel Quinziato and Andy Cappelle were quick to sign too even though they will loose their lead roles for the cobbled races. Gabriele Bosisio is another notable rider to have committed to an extra year. It is understood he will spend much of the close season training at altitude and is determined to improve on what was a poor showing last year. Young sprinters, Mattia Gavazzi and Oscar Gatto were also quick to sign and are determined to make sure Danilo Napolitano is quickly forgotten.
It was not all good news for the team though, and we are sad to announce that we could not come to an agreement with Ivan Basso for next year. Ivan delivered some quality results for the team last year and he will be missed. Also leaving is Lorenzo Bernucci and Andrea Tonti. The team have some room left in the budget to bring in replacements for these riders and are looking forward to the transfer season.
Introducing the Vespa-Caffrey's Team for the 2011 Season
Goals as already announced are:
Top 10 in the CT Rankings
Win the Giro dell'Emilia
Top 5 at the Giro di Lago di Garda
Top 5 at the E3 Prijs
Top 5 at the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne
The team believes we have the riders capable of delivering everything the sponsors require.
Returning for his second and final year at Vespa-Caffrey's is
Francesco Ginanni. 4th in the individual CT rankings last year, Francesco will be looking for a tad more consistency as he bids to win the rankings this year before a likely move up to the Pro Tour. There are few riders who will be able to challenge him if he shows up in form at the Giro dell'Emilia and the Giro di Lago Garda.
Co-leader is another rider of Pro Tour quality, and that is Belgian
Gert Steegmans. He is primarily focusing on the cobbled races and the team are confident he will be able to deliver the results needed at the E3 Prijs and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. Top 20 in the Pro Tour rankings last year, Vespa realize Steegmans is a very good rider to have around and should prove even more useful than Danilo Napolitano did last year.
Gabriele Bosisio is the other rider Vespa will be looking to this season for a big points haul. Gabriele is weak against the clock, but there are Continental stage races like the Volta al Portugal and the Tour de Langkawi that will suit him with their lack of a TT and mix of mountains and hills. The team expects him to perform to a much higher standard than last year.
Other riders capable of good results in the right races are
Oscar Gatto,
Mattia Gavazzi and
Alessandro Proni.
Vespa had a quiet transfer period and only really did one significant piece of business. Belgian
Evert Verbist moved to the team from Wikipedia. His strength on the cobbles is obvious, but the team also hope that he will be able to deliver some good results from breaks this year.
The only other additions to the team were young riders. Egon Luzi (ITA), Alberigo Passalacqua (ITA), William Connolly (IRE), Vincent Bastaens (BEL), Alfredo Balloni (ITA) and Davide Cimolai (ITA) will all be given opportunities to prove their worth this season.
Going out on loan are three riders to the Pro Tour. Ciaran Kelly will spend the year at Vesuvio-Accumalux, Adam Petrie-Armstrong is going to Lipton Ice Tea, and Roberto Traficante will spend the season at Nespresso.
Vespa-Caffrey's 2011 Roster
*
Paolo Bettini
Gabriele Bosisio
Andy Cappelle
Timothy Cassidy
Ciaran Cassidy
Davide Cimolai*
William Connolly*
David Garbelli
Oscar Gatto
Mattia Gavazzi
Francescon Ginanni
Egon Luzi
Andrea Pagoto
Alberigo Passalacqua
Alessandro Proni
Manuel Quinziato
Mark Scanlon
Gert Steegmans
Evert Verbist
*stagiares
Reasons to celebrate for Vespa-Caffrey's
As the season moves ever closer, Vespa-Caffrey's are delighted to announce their confirmed presence at the following races next season.
The team will take part in their first ever Grand Tour. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it is the
Giro d'Italia organizers who have given Vespa the nod. The team are not sure who will ride, but the organizers have been promised an all Italian team. Bosisio has an outside chance of doing something on the overall, but it is the team goal here to get an Italian in a break on each and every day.
If the team were to only win one race next year, the one they would want to win for the sponsors is the
Giro di Lombardia. Ginanni will skip the Japan Cup and take his place on the start line for this one much to the delight of team management. The podium is the least the team expects.
Ginanni will also be present this year at
Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the team are delighted to have a chance to show their colours at La Doyenne. Ginanni rode to 6th at the Amstel Gold Race last year ahead of the likes of Ricco and Cunego and will be hoping to put in a big performance on the longer climbs at La Doyenne.
The good news for Vespa fans continues with the news that Gert Steegmans will ride alongside Ginanni at
Milano - SanRemo. 2nd last year, the Belgian must be in with a chance of going one better this time around. Ginanni's presence gives the team more options over the finale and it will be interesting to see how this one plays out considering how well the puncheurs did here last year too.
Vespa's shift in focus next season to the cobbled races has been recognized by the organizers at
Ronde van Vlaanderen and
Paris-Roubaix. Steegmans and Evert Verbist will spearhead the teams challenge and if either or both were able to deliver Top 10 finishes then the team would consider both races a success.
Last of the Pro Tour races that Vespa will ride is the
Strade Bianche and another race the team will be looking to finish in the top 10. Steegmans and Verbist both like this kind of terrain and the organizers would love to see an Italian team win here no doubt.
Team co-sponsor Caffrey's might be a little dissapointed that the team was overlooked for the FDB Eire Tour - especially as the team chosen in Vespa's place has no Irish riders - but manager fenian was more philosophical telling reporters that "You can't have everything, and the wild cards that we got were absolutely fantastic. Combined with the HC/C1 races we have places in, it's a race calendar everyone at the team is very excited about."
Caffrey's To Withdraw Sponsorship
The Vespa-Caffrey's name will be no more next season. The Belfast based Thomas Caffrey Brewing Company announced on Friday that they will withdraw sponsorship of the cycling team.
Team manager fenian_1234 is understood to have told reporters that he did not want to go into the reasons as to why Caffrey's would not be taking up the option to a further year's sponsorship and deflected questions towards the relationship with Vespa.
"Despite a lack of big results this year, Vespa and parent company Piaggio are generally pleased with the way things have gone this year. The Vespa brand was visible in some of the biggest races of the year. I will be meeting representatives from Piaggio after Lombardia with a view to expanding our sponsorship deal with them. Piaggio have expressed an interest in adding the Aprilia brand to the team shirt and we'll be looking to thrash out a deal for this," fenian told reports with his focus squarely on the future.
Ginanni on one these these would still probably not be able to win a hilly race Francesco Ginanni Vows To Repay Selectors Faith
[img-l]https://designcredo.co.uk/sites/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Cup-shirt.jpg[/img-l]
Francesco Ginanni has had a poor year up to now and the Italian is seemingly struggling for confidence. Speaking to journalists about the upcoming World Championship Road Race he said:
"
I am very grateful that the selectors have shown their faith in me and put me forward to ride the Road Race. On paper I am the leader - but it will be a hard race and if I don't have the right sensations on the day I will tell my team mates so they can chase their own ambitions. There are so many good riders in the Italian team that I think with the right tactics we can be the winners. Schleck, Schumacher, Trofimov, Hagen and Valverde must be the favourites but if Italy rides as a team then I believe we can engineer a victory."
When asked about the controversial non-selection of Riccardo Ricco, Ginanni shrugged and would only say it was a matter for the selectors. Vespa duo Gabriele Bosisio and Alessandro Proni also missed out on selection for the team despite the votes of manager fenian to have them included.
Coming and Goings at Vespa
With the season having recently ended, transfers rumours about comings and goings in the cycling world are already beginning to swirl. There's no doubt that Vespa-Caffrey's dissappointed many with their performance last year and there was uncertainty surrounding the team in terms of new sponsors. The team have yet to make an official announcement about sponsors, but it's an open secret that the team have registered with the UCI for the upcoming season as the
The Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa Racing Team suggesting that negotiations at the Giro di Lombardia went even better than expected.
CycleSport caught up with fenian_1234 earlier today using skype and while he refused to answer questions on the new sponsors he was more forthcoming on the fate of riders on his team:
"Steegmans and Ginanni had a mixed bag of results last year and neither of them delivered the team a big win. We'll talk to Gert but I think the likelihood is he'll leave. Vespa have been built around Ginanni the last two years and I find it difficult to imagine the team without him. We're hopeful we can get him to sign on for another season, but of course, it will in the end come down to financial demands. From a numbers point of view Francesco was not value for money this last season and I hope he'll come into negotiations with this in mind as I'd love to see him in Vespa colours again next season.
In regards others on the team - I'm very happy with the riders we have and will be looking to get all of them to re-sign. Our Irish contingent should not be worried that there'll be no place for them with the withdrawal of Caffrey's - if they wish to remain with the team we will do our best to come to an agreements.
In terms of new arrivals, a good Italian stage racer remains our number one priority. We tried and failed the last two years to get one and are hopeful this time around will be our year. There are always rumours in this game and the only one I'll comment in is that Vespa are not interested in signing Damiano Cunego......unless it is at the right price."
The Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa Racing Team - 2012
It is with great pleasure that we present the jersey for The Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa Racing Team for the 2012 season.
Red has replaced the green of Caffrey's as a secondary colour to reflect the fact that it's strongly associated with both secondary sponsors Aprilia and De Rosa.
The jersey will be available exclusively from the team website and should retail for around 65 euros when it is released next month.
Fans of the Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa Racing Team were treated to a rare tweet from team manager fenian_1234 ealier today.
Diego Ulissi is a great rider. Happy where he is? I don't know. Have we thought about a move for him? Hell, yeah.....
7:08 PM Mar 28th via Twitter for Android
No one at Vespa is commenting on the tweet which has since been removed - possibly at legal behest.
The Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa Racing Team - 2012
Contract renewal time is here. All riders offered terms to renew apart from William Connolly and Gert Steegmans. Nearly 800,000 to renew? Gert's gone.....
7:08 PM June 11th via Twitter for Android
Great first round for the team. Francesco will ride for us again next year. He'll be paid a leader's salary and look to make amends for last year.
11:30 PM June 11th via Twitter for Android
Evert Verbist agreed to an extension. Ciaran Cassidy to leave the team - wish him well and thanks for the last 2 years. Renewals complete - very pleased.
2:30 AM June 12th via Twitter for Android
* On loan from Team B&O
** On loan from Wiggle - San Pellegrino
