Following a rather poor performance at the World Championships team time trial, Lampre-ISD manager Giuseppe Saronni has spoken out about his current dissatisfaction with the outfit's poor performances this season. The squad's six riders Adriano Malori, Alessandro Petacchi, Matteo Bono, Davide Cimolai, Daniele Pietropolli and Davide Viganò finished in 28th position of the 32 participating teams, 4:18 minutes adrift of the winning team Omega Pharma-QuickStep. Moreover, the Italian team scored only seven victories this season, none of which were WorldTour events.
"I didn't expect to be at any level close to the teams that finished in the top quarter of the classification, but a poor showing such like this does not reflect the team's value. This season has been scarce with satisfactory results for our outfit, so I was hoping for a show of pride: but we need a change on a technical as well as a sporting level," Saronni said.
Lampre directeur sportif Roberto Damiani echoed the team manager's comments. "We knew we couldn't compete with the teams that are much more specialized in this type of competition, but we thought we'd do a little bit better than what we showed today," Damiani added. "For us, this was a test to understand out potential: we started out well, at the first time check we weren't far off the best, but then in the fast part we weren't competitive.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the instintive skills necessary for a team time trial in an effective way, all those mechanisms that can be acquired only by intensive training. The only positive note was Malori, who is in good form and efficient as always, despite today's result."
Lampre's total of seven victories so far in 2012 were scored by Diego Ulissi (3), Alessandro Petacchi (3) and Damiano Cunego (1). The team is currently ranked 14th in the UCI's World Tour standings.
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