Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) will be reunited with his former doctor Emilio Magni in 2015. Magni was working with Cannondale throughout this season but chose to leave when they merged with Garmin. The Italian doctor worked with Nibali during his time at Liquigas and will team up with the 2014 Tour de France winner from next season.
Magni has been involved in cycling since 1997 and worked with Marco Pantani at Mercatone Uno. He later worked Fasso Bortolo, before joining Liquigas.
Bono extends with Lampre
Matteo Bono will continue racing with Lampre-Merida for at least another season, after extending his contract with the team into 2015. The 30-year-old turned professional with the team in 2006 and has remained with the Italian team for the duration of his career. Bono’s best season to date came in 2007 when he won stages at Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Pologne.
“It’s also important to point out that he’s more than a domestique, as it’s confirmed by the four victories he obtained during his career,” said team manager Brent Copeland. “He’ll be a good model for the young talents in the team.”
Bono took heart from the team’s faith in him. “After so many years, it’s such a magic feeling to receive the trust by the team, the sponsors and my colleagues, I thank them all for this amazing thing,” he said. “My commitment is to give always the best for the team and for my team mates in order to achieve together the best results."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Colombia sign promising talent
The ProContinental team Colombia have announced the signing of the 18 year-old Daniel Felipe Martinez, who will be one of the youngest riders in the professional peloton. Martinez highlighted his potential as a rider during the 2013 World Championships in Florence when he spent much of the day in the break. He was quickly snapped up by the UCI’s World Cycling Centre and has been learning the ropes in Aigle for the past season.
Martinez won the Vuelta a Futuro in 2012, and is double junior national road race champion (in 2013 and 2014) and he added the junior time trial title to his palmarès this season. “Martinez is an interesting rider, and he definitely had a valuable experience at the UCI World Cycling Center, helping him to start settling into European cycling,” team manager Claudio Corti said in team press release. “For us he is a long-term prospect: we want to start a learning process that hopefully will bring good satisfaction to both him and the Team.”
New Algarve Granfondo
The Volta ao Algarve will add a Granfondo to its programme for 2015. The one-day event will take place during the penultimate stage of the race, with amateur riders getting the chance to ride the same route at the professionals.
The professional race will take place from 18 to 22 February, with the Granfondo featuring on the 21. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won last year’s edition, during a strong opening to his 2014 season. The Polish rider won two stages and beat Alberto Contador by 19 seconds in the general classification. The official route will be announced in the coming weeks, but the organisers confirmed that the 2015 race would follow a similar format to previous years with a summit finish, a further medium mountain stage, a time trial and two days for the sprinters.
