2010 Footon–Servetto–Fuji season

2010 Footon–Servetto–Fuji season
Manager	Mauro Gianetti
One-day victories	–
Stage race overall victories	1
Stage race stage victories	4
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The 2010 season for Footon–Servetto–Fuji began in January with the Tour de San Luis and ended in October at the Giro di Lombardia. As a UCI ProTour team, they were automatically invited and obliged to attend every event in the ProTour.

The team's ridership changed drastically between the 2009 and 2010 seasons, bringing in a sizeable number of new cyclists. Only 5 of its 25 riders were retained from 2009. Six of the departures joined other ProTour teams for 2010, while of the twenty one new cyclists the team acquired, none rode at that level in 2009.

2010 roster

Ages as of January 1, 2010.

Rider Date of birth  José Alberto Benítez (ESP) November 14, 1981 (aged 28)  Matthias Brändle (AUT) December 7, 1989 (aged 20)  Eros Capecchi (ITA) June 13, 1986 (aged 23)  Ermanno Capelli (ITA) May 9, 1985 (aged 24)  Manuel Cardoso (POR) April 7, 1983 (aged 26)  Vidal Celis (ESP) August 21, 1982 (aged 27)  Giampaolo Cheula (ITA) May 23, 1979 (aged 30)  Marco Corti (ITA) April 2, 1986 (aged 23)  Arkaitz Durán (ESP) May 18, 1986 (aged 23)  Markus Eibegger (AUT) October 16, 1984 (aged 25)  Tom Faiers (GBR) May 19, 1987 (aged 22)  Fabio Felline (ITA) March 29, 1990 (aged 19)

Rider Date of birth  Noè Gianetti (SUI) October 6, 1989 (aged 20)  David Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (ESP) April 2, 1983 (aged 26)  David Gutiérrez Palacios (ESP) July 28, 1987 (aged 22)  Enrique Mata (ESP) June 15, 1985 (aged 24)  Iban Mayoz (ESP) September 30, 1981 (aged 28)  Pedro Merino (ESP) July 8, 1987 (aged 22)  Michele Merlo (ITA) August 7, 1984 (aged 25)  Martin Pedersen (DEN) April 15, 1983 (aged 26)  Aitor Pérez (ESP) July 24, 1977 (aged 32)  Rafael Valls (ESP) June 27, 1987 (aged 22)  David Vitoria (SUI) October 15, 1984 (aged 25)  Johnnie Walker (AUS) March 17, 1987 (aged 22)

Riders who joined the team for the 2010 season Rider 2009 team Mathias Brändle Elk Haus Manuel Cardoso Liberty Seguros Vidal Celis Barbot-Siper Giampaolo Cheula Barloworld Marco Corti Barloworld Markus Eibegger Elk Haus Tom Faiers neo-pro Fabio Felline neo-pro Noè Gianetti neo-pro David Gutiérrez Gutiérrez neo-pro David Gutiérrez Palacios Camargo elite2 Enrique Mata Burgos Monumental-Castilla y León Iban Mayoz Xacobeo–Galicia Pedro Merino stagiaire (Fuji–Servetto) Michele Merlo Barloworld Martin Pedersen Team Capinordic Aitor Pérez Contentpolis-AMPO Rafael Valls Burgos Monumental-Castilla y León David Vitoria Rock Racing Johnnie Walker élite Trasmiera-Fuji

Riders who left the team during or after the 2009 season Rider 2010 team Paolo Bailetti Ceramica Flaminia Iker Camaño unknown David Cañada Retired Hilton Clarke Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team Juan José Cobo Caisse d'Epargne David de la Fuente Astana Jesús Del Nero unknown Ivan Dominguez Jamis-Sutter Home Beñat Intxausti Euskaltel–Euskadi Alberto Fernández Suspended Ángel Gómez unknown Héctor González unknown Fredrik Kessiakoff Garmin–Transitions Robert Kišerlovski Liquigas–Doimo Javier Mejías Team Type 1 Daniele Nardello Retired Fabrice Piemontesi Androni Giocattoli Ricardo Serrano Suspended Boris Shpilevsky Free agent Davide Viganò Team Sky William Walker Free agent

Stage races

Valls took the team's first stage win of the year, at the Tour de San Luis. Valls broke away from specialist climbers in the leading peloton to solo to the finish line. The victory also gave him the overall leadership in the race at the time.^[1] Valls also won the race's mountains classification.^[2] The team next took a stage win at the first ProTour event of the season, the Tour Down Under. On an undulating, hilly stage 3 marked by rain and hot temperatures, Portuguese national champion Cardoso broke away from the leading group headed by Caisse d'Epargne in the final kilometer to take victory a second ahead of big names such as Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans, and Michael Rogers.^[3]

Grand Tours

Giro d'Italia

The team was one of 22 invited to the Giro d'Italia. They were not competitive at any point in the race. After failing to have any riders contesting the finishes to the Giro's first two road race stages, their best-placed rider in the overall standings before the transfer to Italy was Brändle in 51st, two minutes back of the race leader.^[4] The squad's time in the stage 4 team time trial was provisionally second-best for much of the day, but it ended up being good for only 14th place.^[5] In stage 9, Cheula made the morning breakaway, but the stage was decided by a mass sprint, in which Eibegger was 10th.^[6] In stage 13, Mayoz made a successful breakaway and came close to a stage win, finishing third in the sprint behind Manuel Belletti and Greg Henderson.^[7] This was as close as the team came to any victories. Their best rider in the final overall standings was Mayoz in 22nd place, over an hour back of Giro champion Ivan Basso. The squad also had the dubious distinction of fielding the last-place overall rider; this was Corti, at a deficit to Basso of nearly five hours. They were 18th in the Trofeo Fast Team standings and last in the Trofeo Super Team.^[8]

Tour de France

With the guaranteed invite awarded in September 2008 to the former Saunier Duval-Scott team (this same team with different sponsors), Footon was one of 22 teams in the Tour de France. They were, as they were most of the season, greatly overmatched by their competition – none of the nine riders on Footon's squad had previously ridden any Grand Tour.

Cardoso, who earlier in the season had taken the team's only ProTour-level win, crashed hard near the end of the 10 km (6.2 mi) prologue time trial, and completed it six minutes slower than stage winner Fabian Cancellara. He did not start the first road race stage the next day.^[9] The team showed combativity in early stages. Mayoz made it to the morning breakaway with four others in stage 4, but their group was easily caught before a field sprint finish won by Alessandro Petacchi.^[10] In stage 7, Valls rode with the leading group on the road after making a selection in the leading peloton. He rode the late parts of the stage just behind the day's winner Sylvain Chavanel, taking second place 57 seconds behind him and 50 seconds ahead of the race's elite riders. Capecchi also rode solidly on this day, taking tenth on the stage from within the main peloton.^[11] Benitez found the breakaway in stage 11, but the group did not stay away.^[12] Pérez was in the breakaway in stage 15. While Thomas Voeckler was the winner that day, Pérez did hold on for third, as the race's elite riders did not try to catch all members of the day's escape.^[13] Valls was the team's highest-placed overall finisher, coming in 53rd at a deficit of one hour and 42 minutes to Tour champion Alberto Contador. The squad was 20th in the teams classification.^[14]

Season victories

Date	Race	Competition	Rider	Country	Location
January 19	Tour de San Luis, Stage 2	UCI America Tour	Valls, RafaelRafael Valls (ESP)	Argentina	Mirador del Potrero
January 21	Tour Down Under, Stage 3	UCI ProTour	Cardoso, ManuelManuel Cardoso (POR)	Australia	Stirling, South Australia
January 24	Tour de San Luis, Mountains classification	UCI America Tour	Valls, RafaelRafael Valls (ESP)	Argentina
March 28	Volta a Catalunya, Mountains classification	UCI ProTour	Gutiérrez Gutiérrez, DavidDavid Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (ESP)	Spain
April 18	Vuelta a Castilla y León, Mountains classification	UCI ProTour	Mayoz, IbanIban Mayoz (ESP)	Spain
May 20	Circuit de Lorraine, Stage 2	UCI Europe Tour	Felline, FabioFabio Felline (ITA)	France	Chantraine
May 21	Circuit de Lorraine, Stage 3	UCI Europe Tour	Felline, FabioFabio Felline (ITA)	France	Saint-Avold
May 23	Circuit de Lorraine, Overall	UCI Europe Tour	Felline, FabioFabio Felline (ITA)	France
May 23	Circuit de Lorraine, Points classification	UCI Europe Tour	Felline, FabioFabio Felline (ITA)	France
May 23	Circuit de Lorraine, Youth classification	UCI Europe Tour	Felline, FabioFabio Felline (ITA)	France

References

1. Les Clarke and Greg Johnson (2010-01-19). "Valls adds GC lead to stage win on Mirador climb". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
2. Cycling News (2010-01-24). "Loddo claims San Luis finale". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
3. Les Clarke and Greg Johnson (2010-01-21). "Cardoso claims Footon's first ProTour win". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
4. Les Clarke (2010-05-10). "Weylandt takes chaotic stage". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
5. Les Clarke and Stephen Farrand (2010-05-12). "Liquigas-Doimo fly to TTT victory". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
6. Les Clarke (2010-05-17). "Goss sprints to victory in Cava de' Tirreni". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 18 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
7. Cycling News (2010-06-11). "Belletti sprints to hometown win in Cesenatico". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
8. Stephen Farrand (2010-05-30). "Basso wins Giro d'Italia". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
9. Ben Atkins (2010-07-03). "Tour de France: Slick prologue roads put Manuel Cardoso and Mathias Frank on the casualty list". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 2010-12-23.
10. Les Clarke (2010-07-07). "Take two for Ale-Jet". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 2010-12-19.
11. Richard Moore (2010-07-10). "Chavanel races to victory in first mountains stage". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 2010-12-19.
12. Les Clarke (2010-07-15). "Cavendish takes win number three". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 2010-12-19.
13. Les Clarke (2010-07-19). "Voeckler victorious in Bagneres-de-Luchon". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 2010-12-19.
14. Anthony Tan (2010-07-25). "Tres victorias de Francia para Contador!". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 2010-12-19.