Christina Watches team hopes for Pro Conti ranking and Giro wildcard in 2012

Team Christina Watches-Onfone is planning to compete as a Professional Continental team in 2012 in the hope of obtaining a wild card invitation to the Giro d'Italia. The manager of the team built around Michael Rasmussen said it is “realistic” to think his team will be at the start of the Giro next year in Herning, Denmark.

"We believe that it is realistic that we can get a place in next year's Giro d'Italia,” team manager Allan Bo Andersen told Feltet.dk. “We will know more about it all within the next three months (after the UCI has received the licence applications). So we also have time to strengthen our team to reach a higher level. But right now we assume that a Giro start next year is likely.”

Bo Andersen continued: “We allow ourselves to dream big, and therefore we continue to have faith that we can manage to make the team ready for the Giro next year. But if you ask me personally, I'd say it would have been better for us if the Giro start in Denmark had come a year later.”

The team's sponsors support the idea of targeting a place in the Giro d'Italia, but even more backing is needed. "We obviously hope that they all - or even more of them - will step up a level," Andersen said.  "Can we reach a five-fold increase of the budget that we have now? I'm sure we can achieve what is required. But a 3-4 times increase may also be enough. We'll see. Things take time but we are optimistic.”