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Competition Profile: QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 2007




Description
Written by Wicky (2007-01-28 17:50)
Translated by (2007-01-28 17:50)

Love him or hate him. Patrick Lefevere can’t count on the sympathy of all the people active in the world of cycling anymore. But despite his behaviour and attitude the Belgian manager does manage to put together a team that turns out to be one of the best teams in the world, every single year. Only CSC has been able to compete with Quickstep the last few years, mainly because the team, that is lead by Riis, is competitive at more than just the classics and the shorter stage races.


And once again, Lefevere can look forward to a year where quality is the common denominator in his team. With Boonen and Bettini, the squad had the best riders of the world in their midst when it comes to one day races. Furthermore the helpers that support them can manage to remain at the frontline till the end or even go for victory themselves, which is one of the big strengths of Quickstep, a philosophy that gets underscored by the recruitment of Facci (Barloworld) and Tonti (Acqua & Sapone).


It remains to be seen if the new duo Steegmans/Van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto) will be able to fill the gap left by Pozzato and Nuyens, who have decided to leave the team to find some confidence in their team leadership qualities elsewhere, which is one of the big disadvantages of having so many great riders in one team. Chicchi decided to follow the track of his mate Pozzato to Liquigas, and took Trenti with him.


The fact that Quickstep also had to let go Kevin De Weert (Cofidis, just like Nuyens), Knaven (T-Mobile), Wielinga (Saunier Duval) and Garrido will be a lot easier to live with, however, José Rujano is a completely different story. The small Venezuelan rider seems to be yet another victim at Quickstep when it comes to general classification riders. After all the trouble they went through to get him away from his old team Colombia-Sella Italia, he left as fast as he came when it turned out that the young climber wasn’t ready to harvest yet, transferring to the Belgian Unibet-squad.


The fact that loyal rider Garrido was cut from the team last minute when it turned out there were 31 riders (ProTour-teams are limited by a maximum of 30 riders), doesn’t show much heart either, even though Quikstep claims that his contract already expired in 2006 instead of 2007 and that the Spaniard was already informed that they didn’t want to give him a contract renewal during the Vuelta. Regardless who’s right, it remains a peculiar story, but just blaming Lefevre would be too easy even though some riders who left the team, namely Italians Chicchi, Pozzato, and last year Paolini, already complained about not receiving enough confidence or respect.


Besides buying well-known quality, Quickstep also knows how to use their scouting department, as newcomers Visconti, Seeldraeyers and Grabovski are expected to show their first big results within a few years. These talents will have plenty of time to blossom and become the new second line of attack, while dwelling in the shadow of the never failing front of Boonen and Bettini, who this year will undoubtedly claim many great victories, once again.


New:
Gert Steegmans, Peter van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto), Mauro Facci (Barloworld), Andrea Tonti (Acqua & Sapone), Giovanni Visconti (Milram), Maarten Wijnants (Chocolade Jacques), Carlos Barreda (Astana), Alessandro Proni, Dmytro Grabovskiy, Kevin Seeldraeyers (neo)


Departed:
Francesco Chicchi, Filippo Pozzato, Guido Trenti (Liquigas), Kevin de Weert, Nick Nuyens (Cofidis), Servais Knaven (T-Mobile), José Rujano (Unibet), Remmert Wielinga (Saunier Duval), José Antonio Garrido (unknown)

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