Team Sky signed Davide Martinelli for the remaining part of the 2012 season
Team Sky has announced the signing of the young Italian cyclist Davide Martinelli for the remaining part of the 2012 season who has signed the team as a stagiaire.
Stagiaire is a cycling specific term which is normally used when a professional World Tour team signs an amateur cyclist to train him with the senior and more experienced cyclists.
The 19-year-old is delighted after given such an important opportunity, “I am delighted to have been picked as a stagiaire by the number one team in the world,” Martinelli said on the Team Sky website.
“It is going to be an incredible experience, riding along with guys who are making history in cycling - people I used to merely watch on TV a short time ago”.
“I see myself as a rouleur with time trialing as a main strength. In June I finished second in the Italian [U23] time trial championships in my first year in this category”.
“I have also got quite a good sprint and manage to hold on decently on the climbs".
Team Sky has just returned fresh from France with a bag full of victories from the French Grand Tour.
Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist in the history to have won the event with his team-mate and countryman Christopher Froome holding the second spot.
Mark Cavendish finished fourth at the point’s classifications and secured a total number of 220 UCI points to his credit.
The team also managed to secure six stages at the French race including stage2, stage 7, stage 9, stage 18, stage 19 and stage 20 of the race along with an overall victory at the race.
The British side managed to occupy the second overall position after the final team’s classifications with a deficit of 5 minutes and 46 seconds on Team RadioShack-Nissan.
Team Sky is also leading the UCI World Tour Team’s rankings with a total amount of 1318 points to its credit.
Bradley Wiggins (601 points), Christopher Froome (266 points), Michael Rogers (194 points), Rigoberto Uran Uran (129 points) and Mark Cavendish (128 points) made the major contributions.
Riding with a team of such a calibre is a life time opportunity for the Italian cyclist and his fate is totally in his own hands as he gets ready to ride under the Sky colours.
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