Italian squad cleared to race in top-level competition
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Alessandro Petacchi and Damiano Cunego train in Tuscany(Image credit: Lampre-Varnese-Vini)
The Lampre bus(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Lampre-Farnese Vini has retained its ProTour licence, the International Cycling Union's (UCI) announced on Thursday. The Italian squad had been issued a temporary licence until March 31, pending further assessment by the UCI's licence commission and independent auditors.
"Following an examination of the team's file, the squad's situation was judged to be in compliance with the regulations, and the licenses commission has deemed the matter closed," said the UCI in a statement.
The team, which includes Italian stars Damiano Cunego and Alessandro Petacchi, will now be eligible for all ProTour events this season.
Despite having received a four-year ProTour licence renewal last year, Lampre had faced losing the top-tier licence after the UCI had called into question its compliance with the strict criteria applied to ProTour teams. As a result of the delay the team missed the opening round of the ProTour series, the Tour Down Under, but have since competed in the second round of the ProTour calendar (Gent-Wevelgem).
In 2005, Lampre was one of the founding members of the ProTour series.
They have secured five wins this season, though none of those have come at a ProTour race. Lampre's last victory in the series came at the 2009 Tour of Poland, where its now former-rider Alessandro Ballan claimed overall victory.
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