Boris Dron (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)(Image credit: KRamon)
Ale Cipollini announce new sponsor and 2016 team roster
Alé-Cipollini gathered recently in Verona to present their 2016 roster and announce that Parmigiano Reggiano will be the latest sponsor on their jersey.
The Italian women’s UCI team increased its win tally in 2015 from 17 to 20 and hopes to continue the trend next year when they start the 2016 season at Tour de San Luis in January. The team’s sixth season will end in Mid-October with the WorldTour race in Qatar. New rider Emilia Fahlin was also presented along with the rest of the 2016 roster.
Gasparotto joined the team this season and finished eighth in Amstel Gold Race, 15th in Flèche Wallonne and 16th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“It was a new experience in this team and I am happy to stay with Wanty-Groupe Gobert,” Gasparotto said in a statement released by the team. “In 2016 I want to try to achieve my results and do my races in the Ardennes where the team is based. My role in the team is to be a leader on and off the bike and to pass on my experience to the young riders, and that’s something I really like to do. I am really motivated to give my best for another year.”
Dron said he was happy to get a second chance with the team after a 2015 season halted by injury.
“I hope to get back to the level I had at the start of the season,” he said. "My goal is to do the cobbled classics but also the stage races which include a time trial. I have noticed that I have potential in this discipline.”
Napolitano, who has has been with the team since 2013, won a stage in the Boucles de la Mayenne this year and finished second overall at the World Ports Classic.
“My goal is to have more luck next year,” said Napalitano, who also suffered through an injury-plagued season. “I had two surgeries on my collarbone and crashed in the Tour de Wallonie again. I want to win again if I get the chance to be the team leader in certain races, preferably in my beloved Belgium.”
Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
Gavazzi wins final stage, Emami takes overall in China’s Tour of Fuzhou
Road racing continues in China with the 2.2 Tour of Fuzhou, where Amore & Vita’s Mattia Gavazzi won the third-and-final stage and Pishgaman Giant’s Rahim Emami took the overall.
The stage win was Gavazzi’s second of the race, which took place in eastern China. The Italian sprinter beat German Tino Thömel (Rts-Santic Racing) and Marco Zanotti (Parkhotel Valkenburg) to win stage 3.
Emami, a 33-year-old from Iran, won the overall on the strength of his second place during stage 2's uphill finish. He beat fellow Iranian Ahad Kazemi (Trabiz Petrochemical) by two seconds in the general classification and Jasper Ockeloen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) by three.
