Mauro Gianetti has at last confirmed the title sponsors for his new team, the successor to Saunier-Duval. The American bicycle manufacturer Fuji will join with Servetto, an Italian company who makes bedroom furnishings and accessories, to sponsor the team. TMC Transformers, previously rumored as a possible title sponsor, has signed on as a supporting sponsor. TMC Transformers, as the name suggests, manufactures electrical transformers (oh, the kit possibilities.). The team will also receive sponsorship support from the government of the Spanish province of Cantabria.
Today, Gianetti also confirmed Alvaro Crespi's management role and that several new riders have signed contracts. They include: Andrea Tonti and Davide Vigano from QuickStep-Innergetic, Danieli Nardello from Diquigiovanni-Androni, and Ricardo Serrano from Tinkoff. Serrano for one is very excited to begin his "new adventure" with the team. Said Serrano, "I am very happy to have signed a contract, because for many long weeks I was in a state of uncertainty and didn't know anything, and that is a not a nice thing." The team roster should be complete within the next week. Rumor has suggested that Gianetti might pick up sprinter Oscar Gatto, formerly of Gerolsteiner.
Fuji-Servetto, which also includes sixteen riders from Saunier Duval, has a pro tour license for next year. Though Gianetti's Saunier Duval-Scott team dissolved in one of the scandals of the year, which included two riders testing positive for CERA at the Tour de France, he has succeeded in wooing sufficient sponsorship money to remain esconced at the highest levels of the sport. Many within the sport have criticized Gianetti and his apparent proximity to cycling's doping scandals. Said retired French pro, Stéphane Heulot during the Tour, "certain managers, like Gianetti, can not think of a cycling without doping, a cycling different from that which they have always practiced." It remains to be seen whether the scandals of the past continue to haunt the new team's future.