Southeast manager Angel Citracca has confirmed that his team is interested in signing Alessandro Ballan and Filippo Pozzato. He is currently talking with the technical sponsors, from Willier Triestina to Selle Italia, Sidi and Ursus, just to name a few.

"We're thinking about it, we have two options," Citracca told Tuttobiciweb. "Ballan's ban was perhaps even excessive, but in any case he has paid for his mistakes and deserves to return to the peloton. I only have one doubt: the age. We are also talking to Pozzato rand to engage Pippo, I'm also talking with all sponsors. On Wednesday, in any case, I will meet with Filippo and we'll find a point of understanding. At the moment, we have no problem in saying that we are talking but we are very far from an agreement. Pozzato asks for what is much more than we are willing to put on the table, not because he is not worth the money he asks for, but because our team has to deal with what we have."

Pozzato and Ballan are not the only Italians on the market. Several riders are still looking for new teams. 38-year-old Rinaldo Nocentini who spent 8 days in the yellow jersey in the Tour in 2009, has finished his time at Ag2r and his future could still be abroad. Ivan Santaromita is only 31 years old and won the tricolor jersey in 2013. His manager Giovanni Lombardi hopes to find a successful outcome for his client. Enrico Gasparotto, Emanuele Sella, Mauro Finetto, Danilo Napolitano, Luca Wackermann (close to Skydive), Francesco Gavazzi, Elia Favilli, Francesco Lasca and Cristiano Salerno (who will return to mountain biking) are all without a contract too.