Mauro Gianetti optimistic ahead of Geox' first season
Cycling manager Mauro Gianetti has said that his newly formed Geox outfit has big plans for next season.
Gianetti, whose team is currently sponsored by Footon-Servetto-Fuji, secured the signatures of riders Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre ahead of Geox' first season in 2011.
Menchov, who joins Gianetti after spending five seasons with Rabobank, won last year's Giro d'Italia and has two Vuelta a Espana titles to his name. The Russian came third in this year's Tour de France.
Sastre, a Spanish general classification rider and climbing specialist, won the general classification of the Tour in 2008.
"It's interesting to have two riders of this level. They get on well," Gianetti told Cyclingnews of the duo, who will both serve as captains for Geox in 2011. "But we will wait for the launch of the Giro
d'Italia to figure out the race program for Menchov and the other riders."
This season, Sastre started all three Grand Tours for the Cervelo TestTeam, but still only had 72 days of racing throughout the season.
Gianetti, who is likely to prioritize the Grand Tours at Geox, said that the 35-year-old is targeting a similar racing schedule during his first season riding for the new team.
"He wants to do all three. Last year he had a long pause after the Tour de France. He won't stop as long and he might work a bit less at training and race more."
UCI licence application still pending
Geox is still waiting to hear from the UCI on whether it will receive a ProTour licence for next season. If Gianetti's team's application is unsuccessful, the Italian may have to seek wild card entries
for the 2011 Grand Tours.
"We truly hope to be there with the two leaders we have," the Swiss said, hoping that the merits shared by Menchov and Sastre will render Geox' application successful.
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