Second Edition News for January 31
Mapei with Tour de France on the mind
The Tour de France '96 took up much of the time at Mapei's official
presentation in Milan, Tuesday.
Mapei is the number one ranked team in the world and had 81 victories in
international races 1995, but manager Juan Fernandez said that he would
gladly exchange all of that for a win in the Tour this year.
Tony Rominger will build his whole season around the Tour (like a certain
Indurain).
Abraham Olano was not so outspoken and said that he will decide whether to
ride the Tour or the Vuelta after the Giro d'Italia.
Rominger's season plans:
It will start with Clasica de Almeria (17 Feb.) and Vuelta a Valencia (Feb.
28-Mar. 3). His big goals are the Tour and the World championships in
Lugano, Switzerland. The Olympic Games in Atlanta will play a secondary
role to him.
Olano's season plans::
Vuelta a Mallorca (Feb. 11-15), Clasica de Almeria, Vuelta a Valencia and
Paris-Nice (Mar. 10-17). Then the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France or Vuelta a
Espana. Another objective is the Olympic Games where he can be almost
certain of a place in both the time trial and the road race. On the other
hand he says that there's a possibility that he will not defend his title
in Lugano(!)
Mapei-GB's 30 riders for 1996:
Paolo Alberati
Adriano Baffi
Franco Ballerini
Marco Bellini
Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa)
Carlo Bomans (Bel)
Simone Borgeresi (ex-Amore e Vita)
Gianluca Bortolami
Alessandro Calzolari
Federico Colonna
Stefano Della Santa
Giuseppe Di Grande
Federico Echave (Spa)
Manuel Fernandez Giner (Spa)
Arsenio Gonzalez Gutierrez (Spa)
Bart Leysen (Bel)
Francisco Javier Mauleon (Spa)
Johan Museeuw (Bel)
Daniele Nardello
Dario Nicoletti
Andrea Noe
Abraham Olano (Spa)
Wilfried Peeters (Bel)
Miguel Angel Pena Caceres (Spa)
Toni Rominger (Sch)
Tom Steels (Bel, ex-Vlaanderen 2002)
Andrea Tafi
Jon Unzaga Bombin (Spa)
Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel)
Ludwig Willems (Bel)
Leaving:
Andrea Chiurato (Roslotto- ZG Mobili)
Fernando Escartin (Kelme)