At 33 years of age, Damiano Cunego starts from zero. After 10 seasons at Lampre-Merida, he begins a new chapter at Nippo-Vini Fantini-De Rosa which makes the step up to pro continental level. He will be the leader, both on an off the bike.

This week Damiano Cunego has had the first chance to meet his Nippo-Vini Fantini-De Rosa team at a gatheing in Zola Pedrosa (Bologna).

"Everything is new and there is great enthusiasm. I am not used to such a strong stimulus," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The 2004 Giro d'Italia champion is confident that he will be able to return to his best.

"The last two years have been the hardest of my career and I could not prove anything. Now I have a great opportunity. Here I can use my experience and, why not, achieve a good win in important races. Meanwhile, I'm flattered by the way they have welcomed me."

Above all, he expects to be in peak form from "April to June and September to October", meaning that he will be at his best in the Giro if the team gets an invitation, at at the Worlds in Richmond.

"Those dates are far away. Let's take it step by step because in the last two years I have had many disappointments. Of course, if Cassani has me on his mind, I would be very happy," he said.

At the same time, he has started his sports science studies at the University in Verona. "I would like to be a coach," he said.

Cunego is no longer the rider who astonished the world by winninger the 2004 Giro d'Italia at just 22 year so age and also won the Giro di Lombardia. He remained a key protagonist until 2009 and has many remarkable results: he won in Lombardy three times, has won the Amstel Gold Race, been on the podium in Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, winner of two stages of the Vuelt a a Espana and won the white jersey in the 2006 Tour de France.

At the moment, Nippo-Vini Fantini-De Rosa has 15 riders: Pierpaolo De Negri, Eduard Grosu, Manabu Ishibashi, Shiki Kuroeda, Alessandro Malagutti, Riccardo Starcchiotto, Antonio Viola and Genki Yamamoto who all rode for the team in 2014, Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Merida) Mattia Pozzo and Daniele Colli (Neri Sottoli), Yuri Filosi (Colpack), Nicolas Marini and Giacomo Berlato (Zalf) and Antonio Nibali (Marchiol).