The race calendar will take the team to a double activity in the North of Europe. More than the Tour de Luxembourg, the team will be also in the inaugural event of the Hammer Series, the new race format born from the collaboration between Velon & Infront Sports & Media. The NIPPO Vini Fantini team will be the only Italian team among the Big Names of cycling coming back from #Giro100.
HAMMER SERIES, LIMBURG: 1-4 JUNE.
Hammer Series inaugural event will take place in Limburg, with the opening ceremony June 1st and the race-days from 2nd to 4th of June. A revolutionary new professional road cycling series to crown the world’s best team. Each event in the series – run in partnership by Infront Sports & Media and Velon – will consist of three high-intensity days of racing in a format that will test the teams to their limit by featuring different types of riding, and is guaranteed to go down to the wire.
The NIPPO Vini Fantini team will be the first & only team to take part to the inaugural event, with a balanced line-up for all the 3 days of race, with climbers, sprinters and time trial, with some changes in respect of the previously announced line-up.
The line-up:
Damiano Cunego, Marco Canola, Iuri Filosi, Marino Kobayashi, Nicolas Marini, Kohei Uchima.
DS, Mario Manzoni.
La startlist:
World Tour teams: Team Bahrain Merida, BMC Racing Team, Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team, Lotto Soudal, Movistar Team, ORICA-SCOTT, Quick-Step Floors Pro Cycling, Team Lotto NL-Jumbo, Team Sky, Team Sunweb, Trek-Segafredo and UAE Team Emirates.
Team Professional: Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Israel Cycling Academy, NIPPO-Vini Fantini and Team Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij.
THE NEW FORMAT, HOW IT WORKS.
The real news from a sportive point of view is the final victory assigned only to one team and not to a single rider. Each phase of the race will be important to take the points to win, and each rider of the team can contribute to the final score.
The winner of each day will be the one with the highest score.
Day 1: The Hammer Climb, June 2nd.
7 km of circuit, 11 laps with 2 climbs each for a total of 22 “GPM” that will assign points to the first 10 riders of each climb. Some laps will have a bonus score and the team that will more points will be the first day team leader.
Day 2: The Hammer Chase, June 3rd.
12.4 km of flat circuit, 8 laps, 8 sprints with bonus score in some laps. Each lap will assign points to the first 10 riders passing under the “finish line”.
Again to win will not be the single rider, but the team.
Day 3: The Hammer Chase, June 4th.
Hammer Chase makes use of extended version of the course used for the Hammer Sprint – at 14.9km long – as the teams battle it out in Sunday’s deciding race. The starting positions of the teams will be determined by the leaderboard after the first 2 Days so as to deliver a thrilling finale: a fox-and-hounds pursuit where the teams chase each other towards the finish line; whoever crosses it first, will win the first Hammer Race of The Hammer Series.
Each team will have a line-up of maximum 7 riders, but only 5 can be selected for each day.
HOW TO WATCH THE NIPPO VINI FANTINI DURING THE RACE.
To follow the NIPPO Vini Fantini during the race will be super easy, thanks to the Facebook Livestreaming, starting everyday at 3.00 p.m. ending 5.30 p.m. on the official Facebook Page of the Hammer Series and of the NIPPO Vini Fantini team.
In Japan the race will be available also on television on J-Sports.
In Italy will be available on Facebook, but also in television on Bike Channel.
TOUR DE LUXEMBOURG, 30 MAY – 4 JUNE.
The other relevant race the team will participate in the North of Europe is the Tour de Luxembourg, race of 2.HC category.
A prologue and 4 stages, that the NIPPO Vini Fantini will afford with a team of offensive riders and sprinters, as explained by the two Sports Directors, Valerio Tebaldi and Shinichi Fukushima: “We will approach the race ready for breakaways” declares Valerio Tebaldi, “with riders that knows how to do it, but we will be ready also for sprints. We have sprinters as Riccardo Stacchiotti, Pierpaolo De Negri and Kazushige Kuboki that are growing up from previous races and they could do great things.”
The NIPPO Vini Fantini team will be at the start with the following line-up:
Pierpaolo De Negri, Kazushige Kuboki, Riccardo Stacchiotti, Nicola Bagioli, Alessandro Bisolti, Giacomo Berlato, Yuma Koishi.
Sports Directors: Valerio Tebaldi & Shinichi Fukushima.