Lampre-ISD’s 2012 season was largely underwhelming, with not a single World Tour win and will end the season with a cloud of uncertainty engulfing the team.
With only three riders winning races in 2012, this was a poor season for a team that regularly wins Grand Tour stages and is noticed in the peloton for more than just their pink jerseys.
Michele Scarponi, who finished second on the road in the 2011 Giro d’Italia, inherited the Maglia Rosa after Alberto Contador was stripped of his results from the 2010 Tour de France but ends 2012 winless and suspended by his team for his meetings with the disgraced Italian doctor Michele Ferrari.
Compatriot Filippo Pozzato was recently given a six month suspension for meeting with the banned Dr Ferrari and Scarponi looks likely to receive at least the same sentence.
A new sponsor and team name in 2013 could see a rejuvenated Lampre team, who will also be riding Merida bikes, but two investigations into doping practices could derail the team’s preparation for next year.
The lack of race wins in 2012 has been a major disappointment for the Italian team but this has been to a degree overlooked by the change of sponsorship and doping scandals that have implicated several Lampre riders.
Damiano Cunego had just one win in 2012, which came on Stage two of the Giro del Trentino in April. ‘The Little Prince’s’ lean season had just the one highlight, with his impressive sixth place in the Giro his fourth finish inside the top six.
Alongside Alessandro Petacchi, Cunego has been the face of the Lampre team, whose palmares reads Giro champion at 22, Amstel Gold race winner and has stood atop the podium three times at the Giro di Lombardia.
However 2012 was not his season nor was it a very memorable one for the sprinter Petacchi, who won three races but all came at the Bayern-Rundfahrt. The 38 year old Italian has won 48 Grand Tour stages across his long career but his age is catching up.
Diego Ulissi looks likely to take over Petacchi’s mantle as Lampre’s top sprinter, after two wins this season and several other successful results. Ulissi first came to prominence with his Junior Men’s Road Race win in 2006, which he successfully defended. He is only the second rider to have done so.
There was no Grand Tour stage win or overall stage race victory in 2012 after Ulissi was awarded Stage 17 of the Giro following an improper sprint by Giovanni Visconti. At 23, Ulissi already has several notable results on his palmares but 2013 could see him given more protection by the team and greater opportunities in the semi Classics and one week stage races.
The change of secondary sponsor from ISD to Merida ends the two year arrangement of the Ukrainian company’s sponsorship of the team. With five Ukrainian riders on the team, they may find themselves on the outer in 2013, as none of the five won a race in 2012.
Several domestiques have already felt the squeeze by the UCI World Tour points importance to ensuring team survival and Vitaly Buts, who is yet to win a professional race, may feel the squeeze at Lampre, whose place in the World Tour could be under threat if Scarponi is found guilty of meeting Ferrari and intending to dope.
The loss of points could see the team drop down to Continental level, as the team currently sits in 14th place on the rankings out of 18 teams. With 435 points to their name, 184 of those are from Scarponi, who is joined by Cunego on that number of points. The next three riders together only give the team a paltry 67 points, which is a worrying stat for the teams 2013 season.
Along with Buts, the other four Ukrainian riders have had no notable results in recent seasons and could see their time at the team come to an end, with riders who have precious UCI points brought in to safeguard the World Tour status of the team.
The effort of the team to ensure it has enough UCI points if Scarponi is banned and therefore unable to contribute his points to the team has been severely limited. Filippo Pozzato joins in 2013 but, as he was suspended for meeting with Dr Ferrari, his points won’t count for Lampre.
One of Italy’s rising stars, Elia Favilli, also joins in 2013 but similar to the other signings the team has made, they are more like-for-like swaps, with no riders brought in who can guarantee at least five wins a season.
Further highlighting the individual focus of the team and the inconsistent performances, there was only one team classification win in 2012. The team won the Trofeo Fast Team award at the Giro, which was only secured in the last stages.
Adriano Malori wore his first Maglia Rosa on stage seven of the Giro which was, for Lampre, a success but without any great reward. Two riders in the top ten is a success, but this came without any stage wins and only one rider to lead a classification.
Malori took over the young rider’s classification on stage seven as well but, as he was wearing pink, he didn’t get to spend any time on the road in the white jersey.
The Lampre team has been plagued by the on-going Mantova investigation into doping, which has also affected ex-Lampre riders. The 2008 Road Race World Champion Alessandro Ballan had a disrupted 2010, as his BMC team decided to pull him from racing in case any suspicion became a reality.
For Lampre, several riders along with team doctors and numerous staff have been under investigation for their part in a 2009 series of wiretapped conversations. The findings are yet to be made public, along with the Padova investigation, but there are murmurs it won’t be pretty for Lampre.
Top Five Results
Giro d’Italia Trofeo Fast Team
Giro del Trentino stage two – Damiano Cunego
Bayern-Rundfahrt stages one, three and five – Alessandro Petacchi
Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali stages three and four – Diego Ulissi
Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese – Diego Ulissi
Breakthrough Riders
With only three riders winning races in 2012, there was a distinct lack of successful or breakthrough rider for Lampre. Two exceptions were Ulissi and Malori who, between them, won races and classifications and wore classification jerseys.
Malori wearing the Maglia Rosa on stage seven was his highlight for 2012 after winning the Italian ITT national championships last season. Although he didn’t win a race, several top ten finishes suggest that, as a young rider, he is still learning and improving.
Ulissi had some top ten finishes to go with his two stage wins at the Coppi e Bartali. A second place at Milano-Torino, sixth at the GP de Québec and ninth at La Fleche Wallonne were signs of his ability to compete in the one day classics, offering more than a powerful sprint in the final 100 metres.
Disappointing Riders
After inheriting the 2011 Giro, Scarponi finished in fourth overall but his presence was underwhelming, as was his participation in the Tour de France where he finished 24th overall. In both Grand Torus that he rode in 2012 he never threatened for a win, as he was far more willing to follow wheels and try to conserve energy.
Now looking like he’ll spend the entirety of the European winter suspended, 2012 has been an annus horriblis for the Italian, who finished without a win for the first time since his suspension in 2008.
Matthew Lloyd became the first Australian to win a Grand Tour mountains classification at the 2010 Giro d’Italia as well as Stage six. Since then, he has been fired by the Lotto team for behavioural reasons and failed to win a race since the Giro success.
Lloyd signed a two year deal last season and will need to post some results in the 2013 to remind the peloton of his talents. The climbing specialist will certainly look at the Tour Down Under an early opportunity to start racking up the wins. In 2012 Lloyd was still trying to find race form after his sabbatical of 2011 and with another season in his legs he can hopefully return to his winnings ways.
How 2013 looks
With the new bike sponsor Merida coming on board, there will be some aesthetic changes to the team but the pink and blue will remain to a degree. However this change will be the least of the team’s worries, as the two doping scandals are expected to be handed down in full and their findings announced sometime before 2013.
How this will affect the team and its roster remains to be seen.
Scarponi is already in hot water for his admission of training with Dr Ferrari and his internally imposed suspension could be matched by the UCI or Italian cycling federation.
Petacchi will be 39 by the beginning of the season and he can longer be counted on for 20 odd wins a season. Cunego needs a return to the podium while Ulissi and Malori continue their transition from young stagiaire to professional cyclists.
With Italian cycling currently in the midst of a lull with the occasional win, the halcyon days of Italian success may not be too far away, with the Lampre Italian talent looking like they may just be challenging for Classics and Grand Tour wins in the next few seasons.
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