The team led by ds Ellena recovered in extremis, now the 8 athletes must be chosen “We will try the escapes, stage success always possible”
PERTUSIO
Androni-Sidermec will be at the Giro d’Italia: initially the organizers did not receive an invitation from the Canavese team, but in the last few days there has been something new. Vini Zabù, a team that had instead been invited, involved in a case of positive doping of one of its athletes, has given up and so the 23rd team will be Androni.
The riders in red and white uniforms will thus be at the start of Turin in less than two weeks, on Saturday 8 May. Ellena did not hide her bitterness at the moment of exclusion and today she can release her satisfaction: «I don’t argue or talk about revenge, it’s not part of my character. I can only say that we are all happy and ready to get involved once again in the pink race, which for us is always the most important moment of the season ».
Two weeks to prepare for a Giro d’Italia is not a long time. “Obviously we had other races planned, in that period, but we will make sure to have the best possible formation at the Giro and to respect all the commitments made, especially out of respect for the organizers”. Ellena already has an idea of the eight athletes she will bring to the Giro, but she prefers not to overbalance: «The next races, next week’s Tour of the Alps and Belgrade – Banjaluka, will serve to define the group well. For sure our reference man will be the Argentine Eduardo Sepúlveda, an experienced rider from Movistar, a World Tour formation. He recently demonstrated at the Tour of Turkey that he is in good shape ».
Probably the presence of Simon Pellaud and Mattia Bias, who in 2020 at the Giro conquered the ranking of flying goals and escapes. There will be young people, as always: the most probable are the Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion and the Ukrainian Andrii Ponomar, less chance instead for the jewel of the Androni-Sidermec house, the Colombian Santiago Umba, who also because of his very young age ( has just turned 18). Surely the boys of Giovanni Ellena are ready to go boarding, as per tradition: «There are those who claim that escapes are useless – Ellena comments -, but I am from another school. The escape guarantees visibility to sponsors, which is not an aspect to be overlooked. And then… try and try again, sometimes the breakaway goes and in these cases it is important to be there, to try and aim for the stage victory ». For the final success, on the other hand, Ellena believes in Ega Bernal, who grew up in the Androni-Sidermec, before taking off: “I know him well, I know how capable he is of preparing the best for an important test like the Giro and I see him as the number one favorite ». –