Mauro Gianetti’s Footon-Servetto looks set to become Team Geox as the Italian shoemaker takes over as main sponsor next year, according to la Gazzetta dello Sport. While the team is being referred to as ‘born in 2011’ it is likely that the team will be based on the current ProTour squad.
This will be the team’s fifth name-sponsor in four years. The team was known as Saunier Duval-Scott in 2008, then Scott-American Beef after a number of doping scandals, including that of Riccardo Riccò, saw sponsors pull out. In 2009 the team was relaunched as Fuji-Servetto, with the US bike company taking over, before Swiss in-sole maker Footon stepping in this year.
“Now we must work to build the squad,” said Gianetti to la Gazzetta.
Geox is currently a minor sponsor of the Lampre-Farnese Vini team, and the team is rumoured to be in talks with current blue and fuchsia rider Damiano Cunego. The connection is also a local one, with Geox based just outside Treviso and Cunego comes from nearby Verona.
The company also sponsors the blue jersey for the best Italian rider in the women’s Giro d’Italia.
In addition to Cunego, la Gazzetta also claims that the team is in negotiations with Liquigas-Doimo rider Roman Kreuziger, and is one of many teams interested in the signature of Rabobank’s Tour de France third place Denis Menchov.
Other than the signature of a big name like Cunego, Kreuziger or Menchov, the team is to be based around young riders. Many of the riders currently in the Footon-Servetto team are in their early 20’s, with the team fielding the youngest line-up to the recent Tour de France.