2009 Tour Down Under - Italian ProTour Squads Announced
Liquigas & Lampre/NGC teams Confirm Squads for the TDU.

Italian ProTour Teams Added To Start List
Italian UCI ProTour teams Liquigas and Lampre-N.G.C. have confirmed their places on the 2009 Tour Down Under start list.

“Liquigas finished fourth overall in the Team Classification at the 2008 TourDown Under, so we expect them to be tough competition in 2009,” said MikeTurtur, Tour Down Under Race Director.

2008 Tour of Missouri stage 7: Francesco Chicchi celebrates his 7th win of the year.   Photo © 2008 Action Images

Tirreno-Adriatico another lucky 7 for the Italian sprinter, Sage 7 was won by Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas) ahead of Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) and High Road's Mark Cavendish in a bunch sprint. Photo © Fotoreporter Sirotti

In 2008, Liquigas’ Francesco Chicchi finished first on Stage 7 of the Tirreno-Adriatico and first on Stage 1a at the Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali. “Chicchi’s strengths are in the sprints, making him one to watch for SA Lotteries Sprint jersey points,” said Turtur.

Lampre
Lampre-N.G.C.’s Matteo Bono will bring invaluable Grand Tour experience to the Tour Down Under after competing in the 2008 Tour de France.

“Matteo Bono turned professional in 2006 and his first pro win was stage 6 of the 2007 Tirreno-Adriatico,” said Turtur. Both Italian teams have a strong supporter base in Australia with the South Australian Italian community adopting these teams as their own.

“We all know how passionate Italians are, and we have come to expect good performances by both the Lampre-N.G.C. and Liquigas teams,” said Turtur.

Lampre-N.G.C.
Matteo Bono (Italy)
Emanuele Bindi (Italy)
Andrew Grendene (Italy)
Mauro Santambrogio (Italy)
Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine)
Volodymyr Zagorodniy (Ukraine)
David Loosli (Switzerland)
Team Manager Bruno Vicino (Italy)

Liquigas
Macieji Bodnar (Poland)
Claudio Corioni (Italy)
Gianni Da Ros (Italy)
Jacopo Gaurnieri (Italy)
Aleksandr Kuchynski (Belorussia
Francesco Chicchi (Italy)
Frederick Willems (Belgium)
Team Manager Dario Mariuzzo (Italy)

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