This season, a new team was founded in Italy. As directeur sportif of the team, I'm very proud to annouce the genesis of the future Italian superforce, Ferrari-ERG! The team will, as a debuting one, begin to build towards success in the Continental Tour, together with the other new teams.
Our long term goal is to, one day in distant future, win the Management Game version of the Giro d'Italia, the Grand Tour in the country the team is based in, Italy. It's an extremely difficult goal, but as an Italian team, we can't see any more fitting future goal than the Giro, seeing it's the biggest Italian race.
I like your goals, except for Österreich :-p But that is becuse I want Rohregger to do well there, and based on my experience with him he needs less competition ;-)
I like your goals, except for Österreich :-p But that is becuse I want Rohregger to do well there, and based on my experience with him he needs less competition ;-)
I hope so. The team will have focus on mountains/hills.
Over the last weeks there has been much speculations on who will sign for what team. Ferrari has waited to annouce anything about their thoughts about the upcoming transfer season until now. The team's DS held a press conference today talking about possible transfer targets. Since the team is based in Italy and has Italian sponsors, it is quite logic to focus on signing Italian riders. As annouced earlier, we will be trying to do well in mountain races, so we will need a good climber.
The rider who will be our main target on the transfer season is Franco Pellizotti. He is exactly the type of rider we are looking for as the leader of Ferrari.
Pellizotti attacking in the Vuelta last year.
Last year he rode for Youtube - Twitter, but is now looking for a team. He showed his strength in Tour of America last season, where he dominated with 12 stage wins and the overall win. The Italian also performed well in the Vuelta, where he finished 13th.
Pellizotti winning the queen stage in Tour of America.
There will probably be a lot of teams interested in him, but we will be doing all we can to sign him. Our ace is that we will be offering him a role as sole leader and the whole team will be built around him. We really hope that we will be able to sign him. I'm sure he will have a good season, no matter what team he signs for.
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 26-02-2012 20:28
Last week we annouced that Franco Pellizotti will be our main transfer target, but we can't be sure that we will get him, so we will need to have reserve targets too.
Another rider that we are interested in is Reine Taaramae. He is, just like Pellizotti, a great climber. If we can't sign Pellizotti, then Taaramae will be our #2 target. He could also be the leader of Ferrari, because of his good climbing skills. Add that he is a good time trialer too, which makes him even better as a stage racer.
Taaramae winning the queen stage of Vuelta a Burgos last year.
Taaramae rode for Team IKEA-Bianchi in 2011, but that team has disbanded, so Taaramae is looking for a new team. The Estonian had a good season in 2011, winning prestigious races like Tour de San Luis, Ringerike GP and Vuelta a Burgos.
Taaramae cracking everybody on a climb in Tour de San Luis.
As I already have stated, Franco Pellizotti is our #1 target, but Taaramae would be a very nice addition to our team too. There will probably be many teams bidding on him too, but we'll see if he can sign for us. It depends much on the outcome of his wage. If it gets too high, then we won't sign him.
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 26-02-2012 20:29
Today we got to know what HC races we are invited to this season. The races is the most important ones, as they give more points than C1 races. We was lucky and got almost all of the picks we had made. This is a good ground before starting to build a team during transfer season.
Tour de San Luis - This was the race we wanted most since it is one of our goals for the season to get a stage win here. The race is taking place in early season and is a hard one with a few mountain stages and some flat ones. We're looking forward to compete here later in the season.
Le Tour de Langkawi - Another race we really wanted to compete in. It's a mix of mostly flat stages, but it has some really hard mountainous ones too. It's a good race for a sprinter in shape to take some stage wins before the GC riders battle it out on the harder stages.
Giro dell'Emilia - A hilly race in our home country. Of course we want to participate there. It's no race for the sprinters, since it's a long race on a course with some really steep hills.
Vuelta a Burgos - We continue on the same way, targeting the harder HC races. Vuelta a Burgos is no exception, it's a five-day race with the last stage being a hard mountainous one ending on top of the climb up to Lagunas de Neila.
Clasica San Sebastián - The former Protour race is the next race on our HC calendar. It's a hilly race, with good possibilites of ending in a sprint between a small group of riders. A strong puncheur with a good kick has a good chance of winning here.
Giro del Capo - Imo, one of the most interesting races. The races is built up by two flat stages, three hilly ones and a mountain (timetrial?). The hilly stages and the mountainous one will decide the race, while the sprinters will have their chance on the flatter ones. It will definitely be a fun race to watch.
Tour de Pologne - Another former Protour race that has been degraded down to HC. It is still a very nice race though, with a couple of flat stages mixed with two harder ones for the GC contenders. The most decisive one will probably be stage 6, a long stage with much climbing. It will certainly be a great race.
Japan Cup - One of the last races on the race calendar for the riders with good possibilites for surprises. It's a quite hilly race, so the sprinters might struggle to stay up front to contest for the win, but it will probably end in a sprint from a smaller group.
Tour of Britain - A race mostly suited for the sprinters. It's no goal for us, but it's always nice to compete in a race like ToB. There are some small chances for puncheurs to try to create some time gaps too. Stage 3, 4 and 5 are all classified as hilly, but they probably won't make any big selection anyway. In general, this is a race for the sprinters.
Bayern Rundfarht - The same as with ToB, we don't expect anything special here. The race is a qute easy one, even though it has two hilly stages. Those two aren't hard enough to make any difference, though. The overall will probably be decided in the timetrial, which favours the strong timetrialists.
Philadelphia International Championship - A very long, very flat race. It's like a mini-version of Milano-San Remo, but with less hills. The few hills that this race actually has is very short and not that steep. Also, they come quite a long way from the finish, so the sprinters has plenty of time to recover before the sprint. The race will no doubt be decided in a mass sprint.
Down Under Classic - The only one of the HC races that wasn't one of our 12 preferred races. This was our 13th choice, so it doesn't really matter. Plus, the race we had as 12th pick was ProRace Berlin, which looks exactly like this race. Completely flat with a sprinter going to win it.
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 09-05-2012 19:36
Since the team is Italian and the sponsors from the same country, we will of course be trying to sign some Italians during transfer season. The Italian riders will then be racing the Italian national championships, and if we are lucky, one of our riders will win it. We decided to prepare for that, just in case. It's still a long way until the national championships, though. Whatsoever, the great jersey designer who created our team jersey has kindly created an Italian champion one too, just in case.
The transfer season is in full swing, and Ferrari has tried to be as active as possible. We've been quite successfull so far, and I am proud to annouce the first riders who has decided to become a part of Ferrari.
The most important one according to me is Marco Osella. Marco is a very good climber who will play an important role in our team as a strong mountain domestique. He will also be allowed to take his own chances in some races. At a wage of just 110,000 € we see him as a bargain.
Another signing we are really happy to welcome to the team is Tiziano Dall'Antonia. He's a good sprinter with the ability to survive hills. He will ride for his own chances in most races, and we think that he will be able to pick up a couple of wins this season.
The third rider who has decided to join us is Dall'Antonia's former Liquigas team-mate Cristiano Salerno. Unlike his friend Dall'Antonia, Salerno likes when it goes uphill. He's at his best on short, steep hills, Ardennes Classics-like. He'll get to ride his own chances in some hilly races, but will mostly act as a helper.
Next signing is Massimiliano Maisto, another Italian climber. Maisto is a schoolbook example of a pure climber. His role in the team will be as a mountain domestique to our leaders. He's a climber, and nothing else. However, at a wage of only 50,000 €, we think that he's a good signing.
Our fifth signing is Marco Marcato. He's a decent sprinter who will help Dall'Antonia and other prospective sprinters in our team. However, if Marcato gets an opportunity to slip away with a win himself, he won't hesitate to take it.
Next up is Mattia Pozzo, a young Italian climber with good potential. He's already a decent climber, but has the possibility to turn into an even better rider. This season he will serve as a domestique though, and learn from the more experienced riders. We're looking forward to see him in the future.
After Pozzo, we've got Marco Zanotti. He's one of the signings we are most delighted with. Marco is already now a decent sprinter, but has the potential to turn into a big name one day. This season he will mostly act as leadout man and helper, but in the future he will surely win many races and stages.
Paolo Longo Borghini will be one of the team's old men with his 32 years. He's a good allrounder, who will be able to help in all terrains. We was surprised that we could get him at a wage of only 50,000 €. He will definitely show that we didn't throw away those money on nothing.
Another youngster that we are proud to annouce the signing of is Enrico Battaglin. At only 23 years, he's already a good climber, plus he's got the potential to turn into a great stage racer one day. This season he will be a helper, and learn from the more experienced riders.
Next signing is also a talented youngster. Stefano Agostini is a similar type of rider as Battaglin. Both is best when it's uphill and both has big potential. There is one difference between them, though. Agostini is more of a puncheur than a climber. He will, just like Battaglin, be a helper this season to learn.
We continue to present our new riders with Giuseppe Fonzi, another Italian youngster. His talent is in his good sprint. Just like the other young riders we've secured, Fonzi has a good potential to become a good rider one day in the future.
Stefano Pirazzi is up next. He's decided to join us after we offered him a wage of 50,000 €. Stefano loves to go into breakaways and will be our man for the KoM jerseys. He's got some potential left too, so he can actually become a very good rider in the future.
We're now getting close to the end of this presentation, but we've got two riders left. Let's take Luca Sterbini first. Only 20 years old, he's one of the youngest riders in our quite young team. Just like the other youngsters we've signed, Luca has got a good potential. He's a bit different, though. He likes the timetrials and that's also where he's got the possibility to turn great.
To round this off, we've also managed to sign Pier Graziano Sgrigna, last year's winner of Brixia Tour. He's a decent climber, but will turn better in the future. We would like to welcome him, and the other new signings to Ferrari!
After presenting our first 14 signings earlier today, we have managed to come to an agreement with one more rider. 27-year old Edoardo Girardi has decided to join Ferrari after we offered him a wage of € 85,000. We are pleased with getting his signature and hope that he will have a good time here in the team. Welcome to the team, Edoardo!
You didn't annoy me, just seems wierd that you say he was too expensive. In what way too expensive? His wage is dirt cheap compared to some, and you never found out how much it'd cost to buy him (though that WOULD have been expensive )
rjc_43 wrote:
You didn't annoy me, just seems wierd that you say he was too expensive. In what way too expensive? His wage is dirt cheap compared to some, and you never found out how much it'd cost to buy him (though that WOULD have been expensive )
The little word probably fell out of the post. It was supposed to be:
Cataldo would have been an awesome rider to have in the team, but he's probably a bit too expensive for us.
