7 escapes with more than 800 kilometers in 21 stages, 1 podium, 4 placement, more than 2 weeks in the top 20 of the General Ranking with Damiano Cunego and 1 prize received in Milan as the Fair Play team of the Giro d’Italia 2015 with 0 penalty points. Only the bad luck among the NIPPO Vini Fantini team and a victory of one stage, in an hard “giro” with only 10 teams that reach the stage victory among the 22 participants.
“The hardest race in the world, in the most beautiful country” as RCS told about the race has been exactly as in the claim. The hard fight for pink has begun since from the very first stages converting the Giro into an elimination race of champions. The team approach has been double, attacking in 7 stages on 21, but also defending and working for the unique captain: Damiano Cunego.
Four relevant placement in the Giro d’Italia 2015 for the NIPPO Vini Fantini team, the third place of Malaguti in Forlì, the fifth place in the sprint of Eduard Grosu, among all big sprinters in the Jesolo arrival and ninth place for Damiano Cunego in the Campitello Matese stage where he attacked also the pink jersey group on the last climb. Damiano Cunego always in the top 20 of the general ranking, as best placement of a Professional team, stopped only by the bad luck with a fall when he was attacking to win a stage in Verbania and was trying to reach the top 10 in the General Ranking. With him also Daniele Colli, already ninth in the second stage with arrival in Genova: the leader of the team for the sprint, injured during the arrival of Castiglione della Pescaia due to a distracted photographer among public.
Two important episodes that the team have been able to overtake with the enthusiasm and the determination of the young riders of the team. The #OrangeBlue have been attacking for a third of the stage, 4 times with the young Italian talent Giacomo Berlato, one time with De Negri, in the longest stage of the Giro with a 220 km escape, 1 time with Malaguti that come close to win, with his third place in the sprint at the end of the long escape and with Damiano Cunego, in the right escape to win but the fall the put the word end to his Giro. This attacking attitude has been seen for more than 800 chilometers of escape and almost 1.000 minutes of live TV coverage, but always with a fair play attitude. the NIPPO Vini Fantini has been rewarded in Milan by RCS sport as the Fair Play team of the Giro d’Italia 2015, with 0 points of penalty. A particular prize that glorify the honesty and the attitude of the young riders of the #BlueMountain team.
The General Manager Francesco Pelosi is quite satisfied: “Each Professional team at the start has the ambition to win a stage and without our two leaders, in this year we have been penalized. We deserve to arrive in Milan with both of them and probably today we would talk about some more results. But with a global overview to the Giro 2015 where only 10 team on 22 has reached a stage victory and in which all top riders has been involved from the first to the last stage fighting for pink, I think that our many attacks have put on light our project of cycling that have been trying to honor in the best way the pink ride and the prestigious invite that we received. The Fair Play, prize, together with the Biological passport published on-line and our strict ethics completes the picture of our cycling approach, completely open to the public and engaging.”
The pink ride of the #OrangeBlue team doesn’t finish here. Thanks to a unique project for the cycling world, the NIPPO Vini Fantini Giro d’Italia will be storyteller in TV, from June: “We are recognized as one of the most active team on social media and communication. It is true, but from June we will have something more. A new project, in which we are involved from the begin of this year, to get closer to our fans and open to all of them this wonderful world. For this reason, thanks to the collaboration with Gazzetta TV, we have realized the first TV reality about cycling: From the 13th of June, all the week-ends, for 4 weeks, will be on-air “Sognando il Giro”, the reality that will tell our story, the one of the first year approach of a team to the pink ride, as insider looking to all the behind the scenes of the team. A reality with more than 300 minutes of storytelling, on-air on channel 59 of italian television. In next days we will explain better all the project, but we know that will be something incredible especially for all the cycling and sports lovers, giving to everybody the chance to live the magic of the pink jersey dream.”