Modolo to challenge sprinters in Turkey

The Colnago-CSF Inox team of the Reverberi family been known for nurturing young talent for more than 25 years. After competing successfully at the Tour of Turkey in 2008 and 2009, the squad will now bring its new sprint prodigy Sacha Modolo to Istanbul on April 11.

"We've been following Sacha for a long time," said director Roberto Reverberi. "In 2007, we signed a pre-contract with him before he turned 20. He's now riding the Three Days of De Panne in Belgium and he'll take his chance at the Hell van het Mergelland in Holland on Saturday before to going to Turkey with high ambitions. He's very confident!"

Modolo, who finished fourth at the 2010 Milan-San Remo, will enjoy the support of his teammates in the sprints at the Presidential Tour of Turkey, April 11 to 18. His fellow sprinter, Mattia Gavazzi, who scored ten wins during the 2009 season, will also compete as the team's second sprinter.

The entire team will be keen to impress their team's management, with the race to decide the final make up of their Giro d'Italia squad.

"I like the Tour of Turkey a lot," Reverberi said. "This race is obviously growing. It's organised better and better. The landscapes are fantastic. The route this year is well-balanced with a time trial and two mountain stages. For us, it's ideal before the Giro d'Italia. We'll wait for the end of the Tour of Turkey to select our riders for the Giro."

Reverberi's outfit enjoyed a lot of success in the past two years at the Turkish event with three stage victories in 2008 and two in 2009. Colnago-CSF has even higher ambitions this year, as it gives its young squad the opportunity to impress.

"We have two good sprinters but we'll have plenty of other cards to play," Reverberi added. "Manuel Belletti is a fighter with a good speed, Federico Canuti and Filippo Savini are both good climbers.

"But we'll have to be patient with Savini; he was injured at the Tour of Calabria and was in hospital for a month. He resumed racing last week at the Coppi a Bartali week and wasn't at his best yet, of course. He absolutely wants to ride the Giro and that means he has to be good in Turkey to make the team."

The Colnago-CSF team for the Presidential Tour of Turkey: Manuel Belletti, Federico Canuti, Marco Frapporti, Mattia Gavazzi, Alan Marangoni, Sacha Modolo, Marcello Pavarin and Filippo Savini.