US bike company continues relationship with Mauro Gianetti’s team
US bicycle company Fuji has announced that it will be providing bikes to the Geox-TMC team in 2011 in a multi-year deal. Officially the team will be new next year but it is built around the infrastructure of the existing Footon-Servetto squad, which is currently riding Fuji already.
“We have worked with Mauro Gianetti for several years now as sponsors of the Fuji-Servetto and Footon-Servetto teams and we are very pleased to partner with him again for 2011 and beyond,” said Pat Cunnane, President of Advanced Sports International, the parent company of Fuji Bicycles.
“The power of racing in the Pro Tour has clearly been a major benefit to our brands [which include Fuji and Oval Concepts], as well as to our suppliers’ brands,” Cunnane continued. “We’ve shown our products can survive the rigors and daily punishment of the Tour de France, the cobbles of the Tour of Flanders and other major races under some of the best riders in the world. It is because of this that our brands have gained immense credibility.”
In addition to the men’s ProTour team, Geox will be sponsoring a Belgian-based development squad and taking over the women’s Safi-Pasta Zara team. The women’s team has already signed a number of riders, including Americans Giro d’Italia winner Mara Abbott and sprinter Sheley Olds and Italian Eleonora Patuzzo, in addition to existing rider Olga Zablinskaya. The team has ridden Pinarello bikes for a number of years, but will be riding Fuji’s new carbon women-specific frame.
The women’s team will be called Diadora-Pasta Zara, after Geox’s sports shoe business.
“The debut of the Geox brand in cycling is a project that wants to create more than just a cycling team,” said Mauro Gianetti, general manager of Team Geox-TMC. “The objectives are not just to achieve important sporting results, the promotion of the Geox brand at an international level, the discovery and development of young talent but also the application of the patented technology of Geox for breathability. And we are confident that this continuing partnership with the Fuji Bicycle brand, already our great sponsor for two years, will enable us to reach our goals for the team.”
While Geox-TMC will largely be based on the Footon-Servetto team, Gianetti has made a number of high-profile signings including Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre.