Ratti to Naturino

Italian Eddy Ratti has signed a two year contract with Naturino Sapore di Mare. Ratti rode for Team Nippo this year, and succeeded in winning two stages and the overall of the Tour de Hokkaido in Japan. "I'm happy to ride in a team with big ambitions like [Vincenzo] Santoni's," said Ratti. "I hope to repay the confidence in me and to obtain some excellent results next season."

The Naturino team will also compete in the Memorial Cimurri this Saturday with Brazilian sprinter Antonio Murillo Fischer supported by Filippo Simeoni, Massimiliano Gentili, Cristian Gasperoni, Luca Pierfelici, Massimiliano Mori, Alessandro Bertuola and Antonio Quadranti.

"It's a selective race and very difficult," said the team's director Fabio Becherini. "We are aiming to win with Fischer, who is a rider in form after his excellent fifth place in the World's in Madrid; also Massimiliano Gentili has good physical condition and could try a breakaway from a long way out.