Giro d’Italia preview: The teams and sponsors (part 1)

The Giro d’Italia, the first of the year’s three Grand Tours, kicks off on Saturday with 207 riders representing 23 teams set to take the start line for the opening team time trial in Turin.

Many fans will be familiar with the main riders in the peloton, but have you ever wondered who the mysterious sponsors whose names are plastered all over every available square inch of the riders and their equipment are? As the opening instalment of my preview for the race, here is the first of a two-part overview of the 22 teams and their title sponsors, which reveals an eclectic mix of bike manufacturers, financial services providers and even pump manufacturers and farm supply companies.

All team line-ups are, of course, subject to change in the final few days before the race starts, but are accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing. Part two follows tomorrow.

Acqua & Sapone

Sponsor: An Italian beauty and hygiene retail chain.

Overview: The predominantly Italian UCI Pro Continental squad was the recipient of one of the Giro’s four wild-card slots. They are led by 37-year old Stefano Garzelli, overall Giro champion in 2000 and winner of the mountains classification two years ago. Garzelli is most likely to target the latter competition, with a view to a stage win on one of this year’s eight summit finishes. Danilo Napolitano will feature on the flat stages, having taken a Giro stage in 2007 and numerous sprint wins in smaller races.

AG2R La Mondiale

Sponsor: A French personal insurance provider.

Overview: Rinaldo Nocentini is a solid stage-race competitor, and held the yellow jersey at the Tour de France for eight days in 2009. John Gadret is a strong climber who will come to the fore in the mountains and finished 13th overall last year. Cyril Dessel is likely to regularly feature in breakaways.

Androni Giocattoli

Sponsor: An Italian manufacturer of plastic children’s toys.

Overview: This Pro Continental wild-card team is predominantly a mix of Italian and South American riders. Italian Emanuele Sella finished in the top 12 at the Giro four times between 2004 and 2008, including three mountain stage wins in 2008. Roberto Ferrari finished fifth overall at the recent Tour of Turkey. Ángel Vicioso was runner-up at the Tour of the Basque Country in 2007.

Astana

Sponsor: A Kazakh business consortium.

Overview: With Alexandre Vinokourov and several of his key lieutenants being rested for the Tour, 24-year old Roman Kreuziger will lead Astana. He is a talented and blossoming all-rounder who never raced in the Giro while at Liquigas, but finished ninth at the Tour in each of the last two years. Robert Kiserlovski and Paolo Tiralongo are also solid GC riders – the former was tenth at the Giro last year. Evgeny Petrov won stage 11 last year riding for Katusha after a well-timed break in the closing kilometre.

BMC

Sponsor: A Swiss bicycle manufacturer.

Overview: BMC will field a weakened team missing Cadel Evans (focussing on the Tour) and sprinter Alessandro Ballan (involved in an Italian doping investigation). Mathias Frank won both the mountain and sprint classifications at last year’s Tour de Suisse. Johann Tschopp won the final mountain stage at Passo del Tonale last year. Don’t expect much from them here.

Colnago-CSF Inox

Sponsors: An Italian bicycle manufacturer and industrial pump manufacturer.

Overview: Another wild-card team, and arguably the weakest team to feature in the race this year. Manuel Belletti won a sprint finish last year and also took a stage at the Tour of Turkey, while Domenico Pozzovivo is a strong climber who may feature in the mountains.

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Sponsors: A Basque telecoms provider and regional development agency.

Overview: With team leader Samuel Sánchez and key support riders such as Egoi Martínez not participating, Igor Antón will lead a weakened but still strong team of climbers. He will be hoping to put his disappointment at last year’s Vuelta behind him, where he crashed out of the race lead having already won two climbing stages. Antón is already in decent form, having finished fifth at the Flèche Wallonne one-day classic last month.

Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (formerly ISD-Neri)

Sponsors: An Italian wine producer and food manufacturer.

Overview: The last of the four wild-cards, Farnese Vini riders have already featured prominently in several races this season. Giovanni Visconti was third at the Tour of Oman. The team also includes 42-year old Andrea Noè, the oldest rider in the race and a former wearer of the maglia rosa for two days in 2007. However, they are most likely to be prominent in breakaways in the hope of snatching a stage win.

Garmin-Cervélo

Sponsors: A US-based multinational manufacturer of GPS systems and a Canadian bicycle manufacturer.

Overview: American sprinter Tyler Farrar will be supported by a formidable lead-out train which includes Julian Dean (five times in the top three at the Tour and Giro last year, but never a winner) and Australian multiple track world champions Cameron Meyer and Jack Bobridge. If he survives the mountains, David Millar is a likely contender for the concluding Milan time trial.

Geox-TMC (formerly Footon-Servetto-Fuji)

Sponsors: An Italian shoe manufacturer and a multinational company that develops electric transformers with cast resin windings. No, really.

Overview: Geox‘s race will focus on a two-pronged attack on the GC, with 2009 winner Denis Menchov the team leader. Veteran 2008 Tour winner and two-time Giro stage winner Carlos Sastre will be waiting in the wings to provide support in the mountains and potentially a stage-winning threat.

HTC-Highroad

Sponsors: A Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer and the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton.

Overview: As ever, HTC-Highroad will prioritise stage wins for sprinter Mark Cavendish, a five-time winner at the Giro, who is accompanied to Italy by his main lead-out man Mark Renshaw but missing stalwarts Bernhard Eisel, Tony Martin, Bert Grabsch and Matt Goss. However, look out also for Marco Pinotti, ninth overall last year and capable of a high placing in the individual time trials.

Giro d’Italia preview

Teams & sponsors (part 2)

Five key stages

Key contenders for the maglia rosa

Link: Giro d’Italia official website, Steephill.tv