A Continental Team with international flavor, without losing contact with Under 23 and Juniores teams. Abruzzese cycling joined with emerging Japanese cycling.
The rumors inhere already were, but now it’s official: Vini Fantini – D’Angelo & Antenucci team becomes professional Continental team. Remains the main sponsor, given the guidance and coordination of team, always entrusted to management team that has built an interesting and quality youth team that has conquered important results in recent years, but identity, colors, mission and vision change. Starting from the name, which in jumping to the highest category becomes Vini Fantini – NIPPO – De Rosa, thanks to the "trade union" of the objectives found with Hiroshi Daimon, Team Manager of the project for Japanese side, and thanks to the support given unconditionally by Ugo and Cristiano De Rosa, immediately excited about this new adventure. The cornerstones team are few and simple: to develop a international team able to grow young Italian and Japanese talents, in view of the future leap into the top category in the world of professional cycling . "Japan is one of the emerging markets, especially in the business world as in the sports, including cycling. For this reason we are proud for the agreement reached with Hiroshi and with NIPPO group, because, in addition to ensuring an important support to the team, it will succeed to internationalize the team from the start, something that we really care about in view of a progressive but steady growth in foreign" – this is the core of the project, explained by Rocco Menna, the coordinator.
To win this challenge, a clear stance towards the issue – doping: the team is already working on a structured request addressed to the UCI to find a square of access to the Biological Passport, although it is not mandatory for teams to this category. In addition, the team wants to start already this winter a path of confrontation with the UCI and listening to each other, finding the openings available, trying to enhance the image and effectiveness of actions to destroy doping also in Continental category, today often mistreated because out of the circuit of ADAMS controls.
Finally, as a manifesto of clarity and "zero tolerance" in the statute of the new team have been included stringent rules and regulations , including the prohibition of engaging athletes who have had in their past doping problems. An important commitment , but that is coming once again in favor of the credibility of the team and the protection of young people.
Obviously it is not easy to grown young talents, moreover if you think that among the skills to which the new team aims there is the will to rebuild the cycling in Central – South Italy, seriously in trouble in recent years. For this, with further commitment and effort, the management of the team has chosen to continue also the adventure with its Juniores and Under 23 teams, knowing that only through an effective working of knowledge and growth of adolescent athlete it will be possible to build the healthy and crystalline talents of tomorrow. Moreover, having an under 23 team in Abruzzo – that will still be led by DS Gabriele Di Francesco – will guarantee an opportunity to those young people who, coming from the youth categories, will want to continue to go in for this wonderful sport.
At the head of the professional team, as regard the sports part, there will be Stefano Giuliani that believes and invests in the project, so that he has made available his Bike Park in Pescara which will become the managerial and operative center of the team. Alongside with Giuliani, there will be another important cyclist, in career devoted to effort and sacrifice, Alessandro Spezialetti that ended his career as a cyclist, returns in the world of cyclism as second Sportive Director. Stefano Giuliani says the first words about the project: "We are a small team, that aims to the growth of the project as much as of the individual athlete. We want to bring our young athletes to know the world, to cycle for fun and to win as a natural consequence of a healthy activity, conducted with passion and dedication, but without stress. Our logo represents our bet: a mountain that must be climbed, from every point of view". The team will present itself with a new and distinctive image for now expressed by the new team logo: alongside the main sponsors, the management has chosen to include a stylized mountain made of two peaks. Considering the conditions and objectives of the project, this wasn’t a chance choice.