Quick.Step heads to Italy to train

Beginning Thursday, Team Quick.Step-Innergetic will kick off a training camp for 2008 in Tuscany, Italy. Riders will train in Marina di Bibbona, the birthplace of World Champion Paolo Bettini through December 19.

It will be the first meeting of the entire 2008 team including all 27 racers and their support staff. New arrivals to the team Stijn Devolder, Alexander Efimkin and Matteo Carrara will have the chance to pedal with their team-mates for the first time.

"We're ready to start the sixth season," said Team Manager Patrick Lefevere . "It will be an important rally to lay the foundations for the next phase. We hope that this year will be another round full of success and great satisfaction for the team, the racers and our sponsors."

"Our main objective, as always, is to demonstrate that unity and tightness that has always set our team apart, factoring into all the races on the calendar during the entire length of the season," said Lefevre.