St. Felice speaks of Clown Prince Marco's chances of joining Bianchi. From today's CyclingNews
Marco Pantani's dreams of a ride in the Centenary Tour this year will likely remain exactly that, after the possibility of riding with the new Team Bianchi was knocked on the head by the sponsors. "There was never a meeting between the directors of Bianchi and the directors of Mercatone Uno to plan for the next Tour," said long time Bianchi associate Felice Gimondi. "There was only a meeting in view of a reunification in 2004-2005."
Gimondi added, "The regulations allow for the transfer of a contract to another team, so technically it could be done. But the team already has two leaders (Ullrich and Casero), and to introduce a third one is improbable."
And the team is German after all, but still with a Dutch address.
Riders: ESP19680303 GARMENDIA ARBILLA Aitor GER19680810 LIESE Thomas GER19690731 WILHELMS Thorsten ESP19700703 PLAZA ROMERO David GER19720127 STEINHAUSER Tobias ITA19720413 GUIDI Fabrizio GER19730604 KORFF André GER19731202 ULLRICH Jan GER19741214 URBAN Malte GER19760225 RUND Thorsten ESP19770225 LARA RUIZ Francisco José GER19760417 SCHWEDA Raphael SWE19780103 ADAMSSON Stefan GER19780312 BECKE Daniel GER19781019 RADOCHLA Steffen GER19800714 VON KLEINSORGEN Christoph
And the team is German after all, but still with a Dutch address.
The UCI only lists 16 riders, where there are in fact 19 (unless some slipped through the cracks last week)... Casero is on the Bianchi roster for the Tour of Germany.
