Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) has confirmed his participation in the inaugural Tour of Beijing next month. The new race on the World Tour calendar will take place between the 5th - 9th October.
“I like the new challenges, they give me extra motivation, that’s why I took without hesitation the chance to take part in Tour of Beijing,” said Cunego.
“In my early [race program], the Chinese competition was not included but then I had to change it and I detected Tour of Beijing as a very good chance to try to be protagonist in the final part of the season. Moreover, being a WorldTour race, the Chinese race will allow me to try to obtain points to improve my position in the WorldTour ranking.”
The ‘Little Prince’ has had a solid season so far with three victories; the Giro dell'Appennino, plus stages in the Giro di Sardegna and the Tour de Romandie. He also led the Tour de Suisse until the final day, when Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) unseated him in the individual time trial.
Cunego also focused on his Grand Tour aspirations this season, making the Tour de France a priority. The Italian eventually finished in a credible seventh place overall.
It’s not the first time Cunego will be heading to China. The-then 21 year old convincingly won the Tour of Qinghai Lake eight years ago.
“I raced in China in 2003 and I won. I hope to repeat those beautiful results, but I’m sure that I’ll find the same passion and kindness by the Chinese people,” Cunego said.
Lampre-ISD has made its intentions clear by sending a strong team to back up Cunego’s ambitions. Francesco Gavazzi, who recently won a stage in the Vuelta a España, is included in the line up along with world championship time trial hopeful Adriano Malori.
Alfredo Balloni, Daniele Pietropolli, Matteo Bono, Leonardo Bertagnolli and Manuele Mori complete the Lampre-ISD team’s line up.