Liquigas

Cannondale Pro Cycling Team (UCI team code: CAN), previously known as Liquigas, was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour.

History[]

The team was formed at the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005. the team was co-title sponsored by Italian companies Liquigas and Bianchi, therefore it was named Liquigas–Bianchi. It featured a number of big names including Italian riders Mario Cipollini, Danilo Di Luca and Stefano Garzelli, as well as Magnus Bäckstedt.

In 2007, Cannondale replaced Bianchi as the bicycle sponsor. This marked Cannondale's return to the ProTour after discontinuing sponsorship of the Lampre–Caffita team at the end of the 2005 season. Being an American company, their sponsorship led to a small American ridership on the team.

On 11 July 2008 the news broke from the French sports paper L'Equipe that Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán had tested positive for EPO after the first stage of the tour. It was blood abnormalities before the start of the tour that led France's Anti-Doping Agency to target the rider. According to AP a spokesperson for Liquigas confirmed the same day that Beltrán had been thrown off the tour. It was also reported that the police had picked Beltrán up from his hotel where he had been staying with the rest of the Liquigas team, as well as searching the rest of the hotel for more doping. It was later confirmed that his B-sample also tested positive.^[1]

From the 2009 Giro d'Italia until the 2012 Tour de France, the team finished every Grand Tour with all nine riders, a total of 11 such events in succession.

For the 2013 season Liquigas-Cannondale became Cannondale Pro Cycling as Cannondale Bicycle Corporation took over as the title sponsor in partnership with Brixia Sports.^[2] In August 2014 the team announced their intention to merge with EF Education–EasyPost for the 2015 season.^[3]

Last team roster (in 2014)[]

As of 1 January 2014.^[4]

Rider Date of birth  Ivan Basso (ITA) (1977-11-26)26 November 1977 (aged 36)  George Bennett (NZL) (1990-04-07)7 April 1990 (aged 23)  Alberto Bettiol (ITA) (1993-10-29)29 October 1993 (aged 20)  Maciej Bodnar (POL) (1985-03-07)7 March 1985 (aged 28)  Guillaume Boivin (CAN) (1989-09-25)25 September 1989 (aged 24)  Damiano Caruso (ITA) (1987-10-12)12 October 1987 (aged 26)  Alessandro De Marchi (ITA) (1986-05-19)19 May 1986 (aged 27)  Davide Formolo (ITA) (1992-10-24)24 October 1992 (aged 21)  Oscar Gatto (ITA) (1985-01-01)1 January 1985 (aged 29)  Ted King (USA) (1983-01-31)31 January 1983 (aged 30)  Michel Koch (GER) (1991-10-15)15 October 1991 (aged 22)  Kristijan Koren (SLO) (1986-11-25)25 November 1986 (aged 27)  Matthias Krizek (AUT) (1988-09-29)29 September 1988 (aged 25)  Paolo Longo Borghini (ITA) (1980-12-10)10 December 1980 (aged 33)

Rider Date of birth  Alan Marangoni (ITA) (1984-07-16)16 July 1984 (aged 29)  Marco Marcato (ITA) (1984-02-11)11 February 1984 (aged 29)  Jean-Marc Marino (FRA) (1983-08-15)15 August 1983 (aged 30)  Matej Mohorič (SLO) (1994-10-19)19 October 1994 (aged 19)  Moreno Moser (ITA) (1990-12-25)25 December 1990 (aged 23)  Daniele Ratto (ITA) (1989-10-05)5 October 1989 (aged 24)  Fabio Sabatini (ITA) (1985-02-18)18 February 1985 (aged 28)  Juraj Sagan (SVK) (1988-12-23)23 December 1988 (aged 25)  Peter Sagan (SVK) (1990-01-26)26 January 1990 (aged 23)  Cristiano Salerno (ITA) (1985-02-18)18 February 1985 (aged 28)  Cayetano Sarmiento (COL) (1987-03-28)28 March 1987 (aged 26)  Davide Villella (ITA) (1991-06-27)27 June 1991 (aged 22)  Elia Viviani (ITA) (1989-02-07)7 February 1989 (aged 24)  Cameron Wurf (AUS) (1983-08-03)3 August 1983 (aged 30)

Major wins[]

World and national champions[]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liquigas.

• Official website