Nippo-Vini Fnatini sport directors Stefano Giuliani and Mario Manzoni, together with Hiroshi Daimon, have chosen the 9 riders for the Giro d’Italia. Damiano Cunego will be the team leader and will lead the team in the pink race.

The line-up of NIPPO Vini Fantini De Rosa for the Giro d’Italia is now official. Damiano Cunego will lead the team, coming from a great performance in Giro del Trentino and Giro dell’Appennino. To support the team captain, a mix of talent, experience and young riders have been selected and the team have aimed at building a roster ready to compete in every stage of the Giro d’Italia with sprinters, attackers and climbers
The 9 #OrangeBlue riders for the Giro are: Damiano Cunego, Daniele Colli, Pierpaolo De Negri, Alessandro Bisolti, Alessandro Malaguti, Eduard Grosu, Giacomo Berlato, Riccardo Stacchiotti and Manabu Ishibashi.

Stefano Giuliani gives his opinion about the line-up and the Giro d’Italia: “To select the 9 riders is always a hard job, but after talking with Mario Manzoni and Hiroshi Daimon, it was not too difficult to choose the 9 riders ready to compete in a such long and hard race. We are proud of the RCS sport invitation. As we did in the last races, from Trentino to Turkey, we can ahieve results also against top riders and teama. We want to honor the wild card and also get some satisfaction in certain stages. For me it is a return to the Giro d’Italia, the last time I was there was in 2004, the year in which a young rider and climber surprised the world. His name is Damiano.”

General Manager Francesco Pelosi is at his sixth Giro d’Italia, but the first as General Manager: “It is a great emotion to be there, but first of all a great opportunity for the team. During the month of May the #OrangeBlue team will be involved both in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour of Japan. All riders of the team know the importance of these two events. This month will be the top of the season, from a sporting point of view and also in terms of marketing and visibility. The parallelism between such important races, in the same period, reinforces the cultural bridge between Italian and Japanese cycling."