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Giro Fury as GT Wildcards Announced
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:04
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Today was a day that the Giro d'Italia organisers were looking forward to, they were due to meet Damiano Cunego to discuss plans for a 6th consecutive 'Cunego Celebration' this coming May, dressed up as the Giro d'Italia race. These two have developed a strong relationship over the past years - helped by the fact Cunego rode for a team sponsored by La Gazzetta dello Sport - to such an extent that on occasion, Cunego agreed to crash or feign injury to make it appear that he could even be beaten in the race.
In short, the Giro likes Cunego.
But does Cunego like the Giro? Evidently not.
Hours later, the lead Giro d'Italia organiser was changing his Facebook status from 'In a relationship' to 'Single' - and he subsequently threw a strop, he could not handle being dumped by Cunego!
The backlash came quickly, believing Cunego to be misguided, even kidnapped, by the Cafe de Colombia team, attempts to persuade Italy to declare war on Colombia fell short, so the compromise was simply to exclude Cafe de Colombia from the 2012 Giro d'Italia.
Totally coincidentally, this opens the door for Italian squad Vespa-Aprilia-De Rosa to return to the race, led by Domenico Pozzovivvo and Francesco Ginanni, a squad who share similar commercial interests to Cafe de Colombia. The announcement also causes excitement, as this allows the potential Cunego successor - Mattia Cattaneo - to receive his first experience of the race.
Joining Vespa-Aprilia-De Rosa in the Giro are a German team making their Grand Tour debut. Volkswagen-Siemens clearly knew how to make friends with the Giro organisers by signing Marco Marzano from Sony Ericsson, a rider who came 8th last year. Vadim Ratiy should also be looked out for, and while the team cannot boast a completely Italian lineup like Vespa, sprinters Fabio Sabatini and Alberto Loddo are both believed likely starters.
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So, the Giro d'Italia will have a new winner at last, but this will be the only Grand Tour next year that will be missing it's defending champion. Yes, that's right, the beautiful sight of Proximus - Trek shall be visible at this year's Vuelta a Espana, and Alejandro Valverde will be on board as he looks to defend his title by any means necessary. The Vuelta may not be full of sprint stages, but Mark Cavendish is sure to be a threat when they do appear, and we may well receive a truly international flavour from Mongolian Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar and Israeli Noam Cohen.
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Finally, the Tour de France. After a year in exile where he could only race the French Championships - a race he won - John Gadret will make his return to ProTour action. The French Champion and 2x Dauphine Libere winner will lead Jayco - Red Bull into action in their first ever Grand Tour. The signings of Amael Moinard and Sylvain Calzati no doubt also boosted their teams cause, while you should also look out for South African Daryl Impey, and Hong Kong rider Kin-San Wu.
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Additional ProTour wildcards will be announced in due course.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 15-07-2011 23:09
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:07
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Congratulations to the teams, especially looking forward to see RedBull with Gadret in the Tour!
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| Heine |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:10
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Weeeeeeeeeee! Giro!  Gogo Marzano!
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| roturn |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:16
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Congrats to the Wildcard teams.
You really "punished" Fenian of course. 
But nicely written.
Edited by roturn on 15-07-2011 22:16
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 16:46
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| ANFreeman |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:24
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SportingNonsense wrote:
the beautiful sight of Proximus - Trek
Beautiful? Have you seen their jersey? 
That was really funny to read, though.
Congratulations to the teams too 
[url=https://pcmdaily.com/messages.php?msg_send=19438]-Requests for Man-Game 2014 jerseys are OPEN!
Click to request!-[/url] |
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| Rin |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:35
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Hands down, if there would be a ranking of the best CT jerseys, Proximus would win it..
But thats not the topic so:
Bianchi won't race any PT race this season
100% promotion and so I can't effort with this team these races because I had to train a rider (could train others but the rider I trained had to be trained) and got 20k left, not enough for these.. pricey wildcards
I hope I will race these races next season only^^
The PCMDailyUCI is all about money on that.. We (managers) should do something against this and plan a breakaway league (Just a joke!)
Edited by Rin on 15-07-2011 22:37
 Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| viking90 |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:55
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Congrats to you!
Looking forward to the other wildcards announcement. |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 15-07-2011 22:58
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ANFreeman wrote:
SportingNonsense wrote:
the beautiful sight of Proximus - Trek
Beautiful? Have you seen their jersey?
For a Waghlon managed team it's quite an awesome jersey. You clearly haven't seen Team Ultra Adventure powered by Hello Kitty's (or something like that) jersey from 2 years ago.
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 15-07-2011 23:00
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Caffrey's are extremely pleased for the continuing exposure that their two year association with the team continues to bring.
Aprilia and De Rosa whilst happy they are to be involved are a bit miffed by the announcement.
The riders however are delighted.
Also, for some reason, I am surprised that Valverde's new manager managed to apply for the Wild Card at the Vuelta for him. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 15-07-2011 23:06
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I wouldnt provoke the Giro organisers, they were hoping for some free Irish Ale to drown their sorrows!
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| Smowz |
Posted on 15-07-2011 23:19
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I am delighted to have gained entry for the Tour de France with the French champion John Gadret.
Happy to see Valverde has at least made the Vuelta and certianly makes that race that little bit harder for the protour boys, likewise Marzano and Pozzovivo in the Giro!
I have this horrible thought of Proximus trek somehow getting the lead in the Vuelta and trying to control the peleton!
Wonders whether the organisors of the Vuelta a Colombia will organise a retaliation
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| CountArach |
Posted on 16-07-2011 00:44
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Very amusing read, good luck to the CT teams.
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 16-07-2011 07:12
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Valverde worries me, I was so hoping he would be out of the way for the Vuelta
 [url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| beagle |
Posted on 16-07-2011 17:28
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very nice announcement, can´t wait to know if my team got some WC too
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Waghlon |
Posted on 16-07-2011 18:12
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alexkr00 wrote:
You clearly haven't seen Team Ultra Adventure powered by Hello Kitty's (or something like that) jersey from 2 years ago.
And somehow, it wasn't the worst jersey that season...
THE THOMAS VOECKLER PROPHET OF PCM DAILY
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 16-07-2011 19:30
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Waghlon wrote:
alexkr00 wrote:
You clearly haven't seen Team Ultra Adventure powered by Hello Kitty's (or something like that) jersey from 2 years ago.
And somehow, it wasn't the worst jersey that season...
I really hope you aren't talking about my jersey...
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