Is the dirtiest team back already?

RCS Sport announced the Giro d’Italia wildcard teams yesterday (Team Colombia, Bardiani CSF and YellowFluo-Neri Sottoli), and it should not come as a surprise that two of the teams are Italian. In total there is actually three, as Gianni Savio’s team, Androni Giacattoli, secured their wildcard already in October, when they scored enough points in the Coppa Italia to place them securely ahead of their competitors.

Giro d’Italia’s technical director Mauro Vegni explained to Cyclingnews that the Giro has to support Italian cycling, just like ASO favors French teams for the Tour, and Unipublic usually prefers Spanish teams for the Vuelta.

“We have obligations to help and support the Italian cycling movement, a bit like ASO have done in the past by giving wildcards to French teams. The philosophy is the same,” Vegni stated. “Italy is experiencing a very difficult moment. In the past, this was one of the leading nations of this sport. It still is, but with many more difficulties, so we felt that this step we’ve taken to support the teams could also help and support the whole of Italian cycling.”

Despite the focus on Italian teams, it is still a controversial decision include YellowFluo-Neri Sottoli. During last season’s Giro both Mauro Santambrogio and Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO, and the entire team’s (then Vini Fantini) existence seemed close to a collapse. Most will remember Santambrogio’s “Goodbye world” tweet, where he threatened with suicide, and Armstrong’s “really Di Luca? Are you that ******* stupid?”

Not exactly team credentials that anyone would want to have lying around, and seemingly not the best base to launch another wildcard bid at RCS Sport and the Giro. Nonetheless, Mauro Vegni points to changes within the team management and the creation of a new image, as the reason to why YellowFlue gained access to the Giro.

“We can’t forget what’s gone before, but they are undergoing significant change, and have brought in some new people into the management, like Garzelli, and are presenting a new image of themselves,” Vegni said to Cyclingnews. “They also have sponsors who, if the team wasn’t at the Giro d’Italia, might move on to other sports instead.”

“Now the sponsor has changed, the team has changed and they’re looking to create a new image built around younger riders,” Vegni said. “They’ve set up a development team bearing the name of Franco Ballerini and they’ve joined the MPCC. They’re changing radically and that certainly helped us with our choice.”

Hopefully he is right. Part of the changes in management is the arrival of former pro rider Stefano Garzelli, and while he is certainly experienced and may contribute to the team’s overall performance, he does have a catch: namely the positive test he delivered in the Giro of 2002 – while riding in the pink leader’s jersey. Hardly a man who should be contributing to Vegni’s decision of admitting YellowFlu0 back into the fold.

@Vegni: The focus on Italian teams is all good, but YellowFluo? “Really? Are you that ******* stupid?” (sorry for citing Armstrong twice)

Hopefully YellowFluo’s resemblance to Michael Rasmussen’s book “Yellow Fever”, and to much of what happens within it, is mere coincidences.

But honestly Vegni… What about Ceramica Flaminia-Fondriest instead?