Yesterday the Saunier Duval-Scott cycling team for 2008 was presented in the M.A. Nazaríes Hotel in Grenada in Spain where the 27 riders were at a training camp since last Tuesday. A young team with a new co-sponsor was presented in the hotel which was chosen by the team for the first training of the new year.

Where the French teams call on the official Tour de France speaker Daniel Mangeas, Saunier Duval-Scott -as a Spanish team- has asked the Vuelta a España's official speaker, Juan Mari Guajardo, for the team presentation.

The new co-sponsor ... and the new outfit

He presented the journalists the new team outfit and the new riders. The team outfit is still canary yellow (I think Stéphane Heulot will probably keep his nickname "the canary" during the Tour de France 2008 ;-), but co-sponsor Prodir has left its spot on the shirt to be replaced by Scott. Scott was Saunier Duval's bike supplier since 2004, but has now officially become the team's co-sponsor.
Leonardo Piepoli, José Ángel Gómez Marchante, Juanjo Cobo and Riccardo Riccò with the new Saunier Duval-Scott shirt - source: www.saunierduval-scott.com; click to see a big versionThe main sponsor Saunier Duval (and, just like last year, its holding company Vaillant Group) has got a better spot on the shirt, especially with a bigger logo and a better design of the white part of the shirt.
Also new on the shirt is the Vuelta a Chihuahua logo (the team participates to this race) on the right shoulder and Castelli's scorpion logo that moved from the chest to the left shoulder.

The riders

After big names like Gilberto Simoni, David Millar and Francisco Ventoso and the riders Koldo Gil Pérez, Piotr Mazur, Christophe Rinero, Guido Trentin, Carlos Zárate Fernández and Remmert Wielinga left, the team has recruited 7 relatively young riders (average age 24): the Italians Eros Capecchi (from Liquigas, 13 June 1986) and Ermanno Capelli (was amateur at Unidelta, 9 May 1985), the French Denis Flahaut (from Jartazi, 28 November 1978) and Aurélien Passeron (from Acqua & Sapone, 19 January 1984) and the Spaniards Héctor González (from Saunier Duval's amateur team, 16 May 1986), Beñat Intxausti (from Nicolás Mateos, 20 March 1986) and Josep Jufré (from Predictor-Lotto*, 5 August 1975).

In the team, nine riders are younger than 24 and there are not really any well known riders. Still, team manager Joxean Fernández "Matxin" trusts his team: I really believe our team is better than the 2007 squad, with fewer big names but stronger as a group. We've lost important men like Millar, Simoni or Ventoso, granted, but we'll have a more cohesive group. Above all, we'll have to boost our young guns' confidence. Otherwise, they'd feel overshadowed by the leaders. One thing is sure: this team includes some of tomorrow's cycling stars.

The full list of riders (in bold the riders who were part of the 2007 Saunier Duval-Prodir team):

• - Raúl Alarcón
  - Raivis Belohvosciks
  - José Alberto Benítez
  - Rubens Bertogliati
  - Iker Camaño
  - David Cañada
  - Eros Capecchi
  - Ermanno Capelli
  - Juanjo Cobo
  - David de la Fuente
  - Jesús Del Nero
  - Arkaitz Durán
  - Alberto Fernández
  - Denis Flahaut
  - Ángel 'Litu' Gómez
  - J.A. Gómez Marchante
  - Héctor González
  - Beñat Intxausti
  - Josep Jufré
  - Rubén Lobato
  - Javier Megías
  - Manuele Mori
  - Luciano Pagliarini
  - Aurélien Passeron
  - Leonardo Piepoli
  - Riccardo Riccò

The goals of the team

The second youngest ProTour-team doesn't really have one single goal: the team manager says the team must show its presence in all races with of course a special focus on the grand tours. Although it may seem that our chances are slim because we don´t have a clear leader, I trust Gómez Marchante and Cobo for the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España ; Piepoli, of course, for the Vuelta and the Giro d'Italia; and especially Riccò for the Giro.

The first races where the team will show its new shirt will be the Tour Down Under (22-27 January), the Tour de San Luis (22-27 January) and the Tour of Qatar (27 January-2 February).

* in 2008 Predictor-Lotto has been renamed to Silence-Lotto

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Marketing | Team presentation 2008 | Cycling general (except Tour de France)

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