Former Langkawi winner Monsalve joins Farnese Vini - Selle Italia

Image 1 of 5

Former Le Tour de Langkawi winner Jonanthan Monsalve, currently riding for Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela, has signed a two-year deal to ride for the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia team. The 23-year-old entered the professional ranks in 2010 when he signed for Gianni Savio's squad and will move to another primarily Italian team for next season.

Monsalve wasn’t able to repeat his stage win and overall victory at Langkawi this year and has had little in the way of personal results however, at this year’s edition he dedicated his efforts to assisting his teammate Jose Serpa to a second overall victory. Another one of the Venezuelan’s teammates Jose Rujano - who won the Malaysian race in 2010 - finished second overall in the general classification.

Team manager of the Farnese Vini team, Luca Scinto was happy to offer the young rider a two-year contract to give him time to develop his climbing potential. He is expected to ride next year’s Giro d’Italia, assuming the team is offered an invitation for the 2013 edition.

"Jonathan is a young rider with great potential, ready to grow into a good team that is going to pay attention to their performance, Scinto said on Biciciclismo.

"He is a very strong climber and good rider on medium mountain stages. To do this we decided to sign a two-year contract with him, so he can take the time to grow. I am sure that with him in the Giro d'Italia, if we receive the invitation, we could do something special in the mountain stages," said Scinto.

Monsalve is expected to join Francesco Chicchi who is reportedly leaving Omega Pharma-Quickstep at the end of 2012. The UK-registered team is also expected to change their name to Vini Fantini - Selle Italia for the coming year.