Management

LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) - ITA

Italian team Liquigas-Cannondale start their eighth season as a squad with few major changes in their line-up or objectives compared to 2011 - but why change those aims, when they are amongst the most ambitious of any ProTeam?

Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, who already have three Grand Tours between them in their palmares, will focus on capturing a fourth, whilst Peter Sagan, the WorldTour’s second most prolific winner in 2011, will be looking to up his game even further in the Spring Classics.

«We’ve been pursuing increasingly important goals since 2005” pointed out Paolo Dal Lago, the president of Liquigas Spa and Liquigas Sport, at the team launch.
“We’ve achieved significant and prestigious results that have earned the team a respectable place in cycling: now the next step is to prove ourselves and keep improving with the professionalism and style that people have always associated with our colours.”

Just 22, Sagan has already demonstrated his talent in everything from bunch sprints (where he took two of his three Vuelta a España stages last year, in his first ever Grand Tour participation) to weeklong stage races, winning the Tour of Poland. The next goal for one of cycling’s most versatile riders could well be Milan - San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, after which comes Sagan’s debut in the Tour de France.

Meanwhile Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali will be looking to make their mark in both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. It is still undecided which of the two races the two Italian Grand Tour specialists will do, but both Basso, 34, and Nibali, seven years his junior, will be sure to play a key role in whatever event they opt for.

Other riders sure to keep Liquigas-Cannondale in the spotlight this season include 23-year-old sprinter Elia Viviani, already with five wins in the first two months of 2012 alone, and gifted all-rounder Daniel Oss.