"We wanted to bring Francesco Chicchi after he won a stunning victory in Crevalcore at the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali," team manager Gianni Savio said of his rider who has never previously finished a grand tour in six attempts. "Our sprinter admitted honestly that he is not in the best physical condition to face such a difficult race. There will instead be Davide Appollonio, who we feared would could not recover in time after breaking his scaphoid, and with the good results obtained in the last two stages of the Tour of Turkey, has proven to be competitive."
Pellizotti has two Giro stage wins to name, prior a two-year ban for irregular blood values, and has finished 11th and 12th at the two previous Giri. Since starting his season at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Pellizotti has finished inside the top-ten at both the Herald Sun Tour and Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali with his most recent stage race result, 30th overall at the Giro del Trentino.
Oscar Gatto is another former Giro stage winner selected for the team with the sprinter having won in Tropea back in 2011 and will be given opportunities to add another to his palamres over the three weeks.
While several experienced riders have been selected, there is also a mix of youth in the team. Serghei Tvetcov, 26, will make his Giro and grand tour debut with the stage 14 time trial a possible target for the Romanian while Gianfranco Zilioli, 25, will also make his debut.
Until late March, the team was known as Androni Giocattoli with Sidermec becoming the second naming sponsor following the "non-non-fulfilment of the contract by the team’s second sponsor: Venezuela."
Androni Sidermec for the 2015 Giro d'Italia: Franco Pellizotti, Oscar Gatto, Davide Appollonio, Marco Bandiera, Tiziano Dall'Antonia, Marco Frapporti, Simone Stortoni, Serghei Tvetcov and Gianfranco Zilioli.
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