Reacting angrily and with disbelief to the news that his Androni Giocattoli – Diquigiovanni team has been passed over by the UCI for a Professional Continental licence, Gianni Savio has described the decision as “incomprehensible.”
“We have everything perfectly in order and we always pay on time, so tomorrow we will lodge and appeal and we hope to know the reasons,” he told Biciciclismo.com.
Several other teams are also likely to appeal, including the Xacobeo Galicia squad of Ezequiel Mosquera. He won a stage in the Vuelta Burgos and finished fifth overall in the Vuelta a España, and will be equally surprised at today’s announcement.
His team management have said that they are confident that the team will turn things around, blaming a delayed bank guarantee for the problem.
Savio’s team for 2010 features several fairly big-name riders, including Michele Scarponi. However Gilberto Simoni was not offered a new contract due, according to Savio, to it not being able to pay a good wage to the former double Giro winner.
This year the team won a number of important races, including stage six of the Giro d’Italia, one stage plus the overall in Tirreno Adriatico, five stages plus the overall in the Tour de Langkawi and two stages plus the general classification in the Vuelta Mexico Telmex.
Davide Rebellin also won Flèche Wallonne plus two stages of the Vuelta a Andalucía, but will almost certainly lose these results due to his positive test for CERA at the earlier Beijing Olympics.
The UCI confirmed the registration of 19 teams on Wednesday, including the Cervélo Test Team of Carlos Sastre and the BMC Racing team of world champion Cadel Evans. Former ProTour squads Cofidis and Bbox Bouygues Telecom also got the green light, while the financially fraught Murcia AMPO team was another one left off the list.
As VeloNation reported yesterday, the Murcia AMPO team looks in serious danger of collapsing due to a lack of sponsorship.
Teams have until this Friday to lodge an appeal.