Fassa Bortolo

Cycling Weekly magazine profiles the teams racing to Paris in this year's Tour de France.

Factfile Sponsor  Cement and plaster maker  Bikes  Pinarello, Shimano  Team leaders  Serguei Ivanov, Serguei Gonchar, Wladimir Belli  CW rating  6/10

Fassa Bortolo are one of the biggest teams in the world but always seem past their best by the time the Tour comes round.

They won almost 30 races before April but then struggled in the Classics with only Michele Bartoli saving face by winning the Amstel Gold Race.

Stage race leader Francesco Casagrande blew it again at the Giro,getting disqualified for dangerous riding.

Last year enigmatic team boss Giancarlo Ferretti made him ride the Tour after he crashed out of the Giro but ‘Nando’ could hardly keep up with the bunch and retired on stage three.

This year Ferretti sent him to the Tour of Switzerland, preferring Wladimir Belli, Serguei Ivanov, Serguei Gonchar and Ivan Basso for the Tour. However, they will be lucky if any of them finish in the top 15.

The rest of the team is: Fabio Baldato, Nicola Loda, Oscar Pozzi, Marco Zanotti and Marco Velo.

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