The sport directors Stefano Giuliani and Mario Manzoni, together with Hiroshi Daimon, have chosen the 9 riders for the Giro d’Italia. Damiano Cunego will be the team leader and will lead the team in the pink race.
The line-up of the NIPPO Vini Fantini De Rosa, for the Giro d’Italia is now official. To lead the #OrangeBlue team will be Damiano Cunego, coming from great performance in Giro del Trentino and Giro dell’Appennino. To support the team captain a mix of talent and experience and young riders, to build a team ready to compete in every stage of the Giro d’Italia, with sprinters, escape men and climbers.
The 9 #OrangeBlue riders for the Giro are: Damiano Cunego, Daniele Colli, Pierpaolo De Negri, Alessandro Bisolti, Alessandro Malaguti, Eduard Grosu, Giacomo Berlato, Riccardo Stacchiotti, Manabu Ishibashi.
Stefano Giuliani gives his opinion about the line-up and the Giro d’Italia: “To define the 9 riders is always an hard job, but after talking with Mario Manzoni and Hiroshi Daimon, to choose the 9 riders ready to compete in a such long and hard race it was easier. We are proud of the RCS sport invitation. As we did in all the last races, from Trentino to Turchia we can join results also against top riders and team in the world. We want to honor the wild card and also take some satisfaction in some stages. For me it is a coming back to the Giro d’Italia, last time it was the 2004, the year in which a young rider and climber have been surprising the world. His name is Damiano.”
The General Manager Francesco Pelosi is at his sixth Giro d’Italia, but the first one as General Manager: “It is a great emotion to be there, but first of all a great opportunity for all the team. During the month of May the #OrangeBlue team will be involved both in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour of Japan. All riders of the team know the relevance of these two events. This month will be the top of the season, from a sport point of view and also in terms of marketing and visibility. The parallelism between such important races, in the same period, reinforce the cultural bridge among Italian and Japanese cycling.”