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Liquigas, Lampre set for Tour Down Under

by VeloNews.com

• December 21, 2008
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Italian UCI ProTour teams Liquigas and Lampre-NGC have confirmed their entries for Australia’s Tour Down Under next month, organizers said Monday.

Liquigas finished fourth overall in the team classification in the 2008 Tour Down Under and race director Mike Turtur said he expected the team to be competitive again in next month’s tour around Adelaide in South Australia.

This year Francesco Chicchi of Liquigas won stage seven of the Tirreno-Adriatico and was first in a stage of the Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali.

“Chicchi’s strengths are in the sprints, making him one to watch for the sprint jersey points,” Turtur said in a statement.

Lampre-NGC’s Matteo Bono will bring invaluable grand tour experience to the Tour Down Under, after competing in this year’s Tour de France, Turtur said.

“Bono turned professional in 2006 and his first pro win was stage six of the 2007 Tirreno-Adriatico,” he said.

Turtur said both Italian teams have a strong supporter base in Australia and particularly with the South Australian Italian community.

The Lampre-NGC team includes: Matteo Bono, Emanuele Bindi, Andrea Grendene, Mauro Santambrogio, Vitaliy Buts, Volodymyr Zagorodniy and David Loosli.

The Liquigas line-up consists of Maciej Bodnar, Claudio Corioni, Gianni Da Ros, Jacopo Guarnieri, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Francesco Chicchi and Frederik Willems.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is making his return to professional cycling with the Astana team in the Tour Down Under, which will take place around Adelaide’s environs from January 18-25.