According to Italian media, two-times World Champion and Olympic Champion from Athens, Italian Paolo Bettini is ready to step down as coach of the National Cycling Team, as he received an offer to become Fernando Alonso Cycling Team sports director.  

The news was announced by Auro Bulbarelli of TG1, suggesting that Bettini has decided to leave the national team to accept the offer of the constantly rumored new project on cycling arena, where its founder Fernando Alonso was told to play the role of team manager.

It is a surprising decision, even though the relation between Bettini and Italian Federation was told to be a difficult one and the atmosphere became even more tense after the last World Championships held in Florence.

Bettini played the role of Italian National Team coach from 2010, when he replaced tragically deceased friend Franco Ballerini. The information about his demission should be officially announced next week, while there are plenty of possible successors to take over his position.

According to Italian media, Bettini, who will make his debut in the new role on January 7 when the Alonso’s project will be presented in Spain, pointed out to the names of Davide Cassani and Maximilian Sciandri as his most desired successors.

As Alonso fully concentrated on his new cycling project with the end of Formula One season, more and more details about the future team are leaking to the media. Bettini, struggling because of his difficult relations with Italian Federation, certainly had to be teased by the vision of a future team sponsored by Etihad (well-recognized as a sponsor in F1), composed of highly renowned riders never associated with any doping cases and supported by Formula 1 technology regarding to both working methods and materials, while gentlemen met each other in Bologne.

Still, Bettini claims it was a hard decision to make.

"The decision definitely wasn’t an easy one to make, because everyone knows how much I care about those blue jerseys. But now I need to properly evaluate the values I have on the table. It is not a mystery, the draft of Alonso’s project is very intriguing and interesting, let's say revolutionary, but we are only at an early stage of recognizing each others’ visions. I can only say this: I have not signed anything yet and in the next few weeks everything should become more clear,” Bettini told TuttobiciWeb.it

"In recent years I have had the privilege of coaching great guys, which are able to live up to all expectations and continue to develop our project without my further presence. I am happy to have lived this experience. Now I wish them to be as successful as I happened to be."