World road race champion Rui Costa and his Lampre-Merida teammates posed for the team's official photograph in Monza on Wednesday, challenging the cold of the Italian winter to show off the team's 2014 blue and fuchsia kit.
Costa, Filippo Pozzato, Damiano Cunego, recent Santos Tour Down Under stage winner Diego Ulissi and Tour de San Luis stage winner Sacha Modolo posed in front of the spectacular Monza Duomo. Rui Costa has opted for an all-white look, with white shorts to match his white rainbow jersey.
New signing Chris Horner was not at the photo shoot but the team appears to have left a place in the team photo to add him at a later date. Horner is expected to race for Lampre-Merida at the Challenge Mallorca in early February.
Many of the riders had returned from the warm of Australia and Argentina and had to suffer in the cold as Roberto and Luca Bettini snapped the photographs. Many of the riders will soon head to Dubai or Tuscany for the GP degli Etruschi –the opening race of the Italian season.
The Lampre-Merida team is based in nearby Usmate Velate and has done some team time training on the Monza motor racing circuit.
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