news for May 13


San Marco Group finished

The professional cycling team San Marco Group is now definitely history. The Italian cycling federation has suspended it from all sporting activity just one week before the start of the Giro d'Italia.

The team has not been able to find a main sponsor and has been in financial difficulties from the very start. The bank guarantee to the federation was arranged first when the season had started and since then the riders have only been paid for one month.

This also means that the riders can go anywhere they want. Filippo Casagrande and Paolo Lanfranchi has already left and riders like Massimo Podenzana and Gabriele Missaglia won't have any difficulty in finding a new team.

The riders are: Massimo Podenzana, Gabriele Missaglia, Eric Vanderaerden (Bel), Endrio Leoni, Omar Pumar (Ven), Giancarlo Perini, Francesco Arazzi, Ivan Luna, Leonardo Calzavara, Salvatore Cocco, Oscar dalla Costa, Giuseppe Panto, Walter Pedroni, Ivan Raimondi and Manuel Scopsi.

For the Giro d'Italia Amore e Vita is in pole position, as first substitute, to take San Marco Group's place. Decision early next week.