Selle Italia deplore RCS decision

Gianni Savio, manager of Italian Pro Continental team Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia, has expressed his bewilderment at the announcement of Giro d'Italia organiser RCS not to invite the squad to the Grand Tour in May. "The exclusion of our team from the Giro d'Italia confirms that in the present ProTour system, sporting results are not rightfully considered," Savio stated in a press release.

Although he did not want to "discuss the decisions of RCS", Savio pointed at the results of his team in the last two editions of the race, which included "One final podium placing, four 'queen' mountain stages, three King of the Mountain jerseys, one Intergiro jersey, two Most Combative rider prizes" amongst other honours.

"Also this year, we are convinced to have a competitive outfit," he continued. "At the recent Tour of Langkawi, where victories of the ProTour teams were expected, we won six out of ten stages (five with Loddo and one with Serpa) and placed Serpa as well as Pedraza on the podium. Moreover, we won the King of the Mountains prize with Pedraza and the Points Classification with Loddo.

"We hope that in future, the sporting merits will be the team selection criteria for the Grand Tours," Savio concluded.