Exclusive Interview - Gianni Savio (Team Manager, Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela)

Gianni Savio.

Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela managed to win the Italian Team Championship for the second year in a row and by that secure a spot in next year’s Giro d’Italia. All in all Gianni Savio’s team won 17 races this season so naturally the Italian team manager was very satisfied with how 2012 turned out.

Gianni, first of all congratulations on winning the championship.

Thank you! It was very important to us. First of all because it’s an honor to win the Italian Championship and secondly because we now have a wild card for the Giro d’Italia next year. It’s good that we can start the next season without any stress.

I take it you are quite satisfied with this season?
Indeed! I’m very, very satisfied with this year and to be honest it will be more than difficult to repeat it next year. But of course we will try. We always have the same passion and determination, but... It will not be easy to do as well as this year.

What has been the best moment for the team this year?

I would like you point out three moments. The first one is the Giro d’Italia stage we won with Miguel Angel Rubiano. It was a fantastic day and he was even virtual maglia rosa in the last kilometer. The second moment was when Franco Pellizotti won the Italian Championship. We signed him in May just before the Giro after he had come back from a very difficult time and for him to win the Italian Champions was unbelievable, not only for his career but also for himself as a person. The last one was in Giro dell'Emilia where we secured the Italian Team Championship. There was a ‘sporting war’ going on between Androni and Colnago and luckily for us Pellizotti [ending 3^rd] managed to keep Pozzovivo [ending 4^th] behind him. Don’t forget that if Pozzovivo had won this race, Colnago would have won the Championship!

What about the worst moment of the season?

Hmm… Maybe the beginning of Giro di Padania. Colnago won the TTT and the day after Modolo won a stage. It really didn’t look good for our team [thinking of the Italian Championship], but we managed to finish in a very strong way. We showed a lot of character and determination by putting two riders [Chiarini & Pellizotti] on the final podium behind Nibali.

Looking ahead. How do you see your team next year?

I think we still have a very competitive team. We managed to keep most of our important riders, so next year we will be able to count on Pellizotti, Sella, Felline, Chiarini and Rubiano. I think we have a good team. Furthermore I have signed some very promising young riders such as Matteo Di Serafino and Diego Rosa who is an incredible climber. I would have liked to keep both Ferrari, Serpa and De Marchi but they all got some very good offers from the ProTour teams and with our budget we simply couldn’t match that. My philosophy has always been to be able to pay everybody on the team; riders, mechanics, soigneurs etc. etc. and therefore we couldn’t afford to keep those riders.

And a quick comment about Rujano?

Well… This year Rujano did nothing. Nothing at all. He didn’t finish the Giro and generally he didn’t do well this season. Not only on a sporting level but also on a moral level. 

In the past you have been the only manager able to get results from Rujano. Do you think he will succeed at Vacansoleil-DCM?
It’s impossible to say if he will manage to do well with his new team. Rujano is a very special person with a mind of his own and only - only, only, only - Rujano knows what Rujano will be able to do.

You have one the brightest talents in Fabio Felline on your team. What can we expect from him in 2013?

Felline is still very young and it’s important not to put any pressure on him. That being said, I still think he will have a very good season next year and I think he will be a protagonist in the classics and in the Giro d’Italia. There are many good stages for him in the Giro. In the U23 World Champions he was one of the favorites, but I don’t think the Italian team rode like a team. When I give directions to my riders before a race everybody knows their role, but in the U23 race the Italian team seemed confused. Felline was alone in the final and he had already spent too much energy on attacking. I think that with another strategy it could have turned out differently for him.

Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela just had their first team meeting of the season in Rivarolo Canavese where they were presented with the prize of winning the Italian Team Championship. The team will get together again in the middle of December [9-16] before starting the new season in Argentina with Tour de San Luis.

Even though 2012 has been a huge success for the team, Gianni Savio hasn’t given up on the idea of joining the world’s elite and upgrade to the UCI WorldTour. You can read all about this by clicking here.

Exclusive Interview - Gianni Savio (Team Manager, Androni)

Gianni Savio and his Androni team have very
high expectations for this year's Giro d'Italia.

The Androni team have high hopes for their team leader in the Giro d’Italia, José Rujano, and according to team manager Gianni Savio the little Venezuelan isn’t the only rider with good chances of success. I made the following interview with Gianni Savio about his team’s ambitions in the Italian Grand Tour.

“First of all we want to be protagonists. We hope to get a rider on the podium. José Rujano was already on the podium back in 2005 and I hope he can be there this year too. He is our team leader, but we have also two other riders who can do something big in this race, José Serpa and Emanuelle Sella. Also we have a good sprinter in Roberto Ferrari and a great young rider in Fabio Felline. All in all we have a good compact team and I think we will be protagonists in this Giro”.

What about the team classification, is that a goal too?
For sure! We hope to be on the podium as winners of the team classification. That is a goal for us. Last year we were second in the team points classification and this year I hope we can be on the podium for the time classification.

How is Rujano coming into this Giro compared to last year?
I think that he is a little bit better this time actually. He has prepared very well for this Giro. He was second in Langkawi where we won with Serpa and after that he did well in Italy, in Giro del Trentino, so I think he is ready. Plus he is also a rider who is able to increase his condition during the Giro, which is very important for the last week. 

Can he win this Giro?
There is no doubts that Rujano has the possibility to win the Giro but with him nothing is certain. For sure I hope he will win, but we will have to wait and see.

How about Roberto Ferrari, what do you expect from in this Giro?
Ferrari had some stomach problems when he started the season in Tour de San Luis and withdrew. After that he began very well [1 stage win and 3 second places in Tour de Taiwan] and he has now three wins this season. He is a good sprinter, for sure, but it is not easy for him, because here you have riders like Cavendish, Hushovd etc, so it won’t be easy to win. To be realistic, I would say he can do top3 or top5 in the mass sprints.

And Fabio Felline?
Well, I think there have been some mistakes in Felline’s race programs in the past. For me he was too young to participate in the Tour de France for example. The way I see it, it wasn’t good for him. Felline is from my town where I live [Torino] and I always explain to his many fans that it’s important not to put too much pressure on him. He needs to progress gradually. But for sure I hope that he will win a stage in this Giro. 
There are many stages that suit him very well.

Who is your favorite for the overall victory?
Personally I would be very happy if Michele Scarponi wins this Giro. He used to be one of my riders. I signed him back when nobody wanted to touch him [after Operación Puerto] and with us he won three stages in the Giro, he got 4th overall in the Giro, he won Tirreno-Adriatico and suddenly all the teams wanted to sign him. Actually he called me after Giro dell'Appennino where he was in the breakaway. At one point it looked like the breakaway could make it to the finish so I put the whole team in front to catch him and we won with Felline. Afterwards he called me and said he was very happy for us winning the race, even though it meant we had to catch him first. We have a good relationship and I would be happy if he wins the Giro.

Who else do you think will be up there?
Ivan Basso looks good, Roman Kreuziger too. Purito and Pozzovivo will also be there together with Fränk Schleck who I think will do a great Giro. There is not a superman this year and because of that I think we will get a very open and very interesting Giro this time.

Androni brings a team full of climbers. Is the mountain jersey also a goal for you?
Well, we will see. It’s not our first goal. It will depend on how the race goes but for sure we will try to get it if it’s possible. First of all we aim for a stage win and then afterwards we will see if we can also go for the mountain jersey too.

Do you have any specific stages red-circled already?
No. I think the most important stage will be the one to Stelvio [Stage 20] but in cycling nothing is certain. We all may think that Stelvio will be the key, but then maybe in Cervinia [Stage 14] everything changes. Remember two years ago in L'Aquila [The stage where a big breakaway with Carlos Sastre & David Arroyo among others got away with 12 minutes to the peloton]? What many forget is that it was Androni who back then saved the Giro! I personally stopped three riders of my riders in the breakaway to get back to the peloton where we started to chase, chase and chase. If we hadn’t done that, the Giro would have ended on that stage and Arroyo would have won overall.

As Giro Expert during the race Gianni Savio will give a preview of each stage and his winner pick for all the stages in this year’s Giro d’Italia. You will find Savio’s latest preview on the front page and can see all of them by clicking here.

This interview was made before José Serpa broke a finger on his right hand on Stage 2 and before Roberto Ferrari caused Mark Cavendish to crash on Stage 3.

Interview - Gianni Savio (Team Manager Androni Giocattoli - C.I.P.I)

After being the national coach for first Columbia (2001-2005) and then Venezuela (until last year) Gianni Savio has now decided to concentrate fully on managing his Androni Giocattoli - C.I.P.I team. A team who had a very good season starting out winning 3 stages in San Luis, 1 stage in Langkawi plus the overall win, Giro del Friuli, 2 stages plus the overall in Settimana Coppi e Bartali and then two stages in the Giro with Rujano finishing 7th in the overall classification.

The biggest signing of this year was the re-signing of José Rujano, 5 years after he quit the team during the 2006 season. Rujano never managed to get back to his former level, but with Gianni Savio he once again raised and won the big mountain stage to Grossglockner in the Giro.

Gianni, how will you describe the season for your team this year?
I think we had a very good season. We started very well. My philosophy is that it’s always very important to start out well. So we had a good preparation during the winter and we got some very good results in the first part of the season. It’s how we do, we always start out strong and then we defend our position in the second part of the season. It’s important to remember that there is an agreement between the Italian federation and the organizers of the Giro, saying that the best Italian team from the year before will get an invitation to the Giro, so that is what we are trying to obtain.

In the second part of the season there were a lot of rumors about Rujano changing team again in order to do the Vuelta. What was all that about?
No no, that was just rumors. Somebody starts talking about Rujano might want to change team to do the Vuelta, but that was never going to happen. Naturally we had no interest in letting him go, and Rujano never talk with me about it either.

Well it seems like it was the smart move for Rujano as well, since he has never managed to function in any other teams than yours…
Yes that’s true. I was the one discovering him when he was very young in a little village in the Venezuelan hills on the border to Columbia. Then he came to Italy and he had a lot of progress. We actually waited for him for 3 years to progress, without putting any pressure on him. Then he came to the Giro and he finished third. After that I think that he made some mistakes. It’s important to know that Rujano has very particular personality. I think it’s necessary to know him well, follow him and also be able to tell him “No” if it’s needed. I think that in some of the teams he went to the people around him always told him “yes, yes, yes” and made him believe he was the new God of cycling. And also, in the big teams he wasn’t being followed as well as he should have been by the team management. Somebody told him he was a champion, but the problem is that he was not a champion. He had the possibility to be one, but at that time he wasn’t a champion. Then when he came back to us and you saw what happened.

And how did you get him back?
Well, back in November last year, just when we had finished our team budget for our 16 riders, I received a phone call from Hernán Alemán [Politician, in the Venezuelan parliament] a friend of mine who is also the owner of the team Gobernación del Zulia [where Rujano was riding in the second part of the 2010 season]. He told me that he thought it was a shame that Rujano was wasting his talent only riding in Venezuela and that we should take him back to Italy to ride with the bests. I told him that I had to talk with Rujano first myself, because even though we always had a good relationship, the way we parted ways with the team wasn’t good at all. So I talked with Rujano three times and to me his mentality seemed to be changed. After that I talked with Alemán again and told him “okay” and we made a contract with Rujano for 2 years, with a significant payment increase if his results this year were good – which they turned out to be.

And next year, I suppose Rujano once again has the Giro as his big target?
Sure. He is the leader of the team and the plan for him is to prepare well for the Giro and if possible to return to podium.

About the team next year. You re-signed all of the great riders for 2011, but you still need four more riders…
Right now we have 12 riders and I think we will sign two other riders next week [this week]. One Italian rider and the other one right now is a South American. The plan is to end up with 16 riders, but our main goal was to re-sign all of our important riders first. To me it would have been crazy to lose our own riders and bring in new ones from other teams.

There was some talk about Davide Rebellin would return to your team as well…
Well, Davide was one of my riders 3 years ago and I am very sorry for how it turned out for him. It is true I have been talking with him. I tried to present him with the realism of his situation, telling him that no matter what he says then this [the positive test] is the result. So I told him to explain his situation to everybody, make a press release to let the Media know what happened. It’s not good the way he did. You can’t just disappear…

Is there any chance of seeing Davide back at Androni?
I talked with Davide and I told him that if he, right now, came forward and explained his situation and what exactly had happened, there was a possibility [to sign a contract with Androni]. But as the things are right now, it’s not possible.

Did you also fear that bringing Davide back to the team would jeopardize the chances of an invitation for the Giro?
No, that has never been in my consideration. Also the anti doping policy is very strict. UCI works very, very well against doping with the biologic passport which makes it possible for me to follow my riders. In the past that wasn’t possible. I live in Turin and I have riders all over the world, one in Florence Italy, one in Bogota Columbia, one in Caracas in Venezuela and what can I do? How I am supposed to follow every one of them? It was impossible.

What about a rider like Emmanuelle Sella. Do you think he can return to his former level?
Well, to be honest. For him to return to the same level as in 2008, I think it is very, very difficult [read between the lines…]. But he is good rider and I think he will return to a very good position again. Not to win three mountain stages, the jersey and end 5 in the GC, but sure he can return and do great things.

And does Sella know this? Because I read an interview with him before the Giro, when he was talking about aiming for the podium already…
He knows. This season was important for Sella in his way back and to prepare himself for next year as well. I think that he will make a lot better results next season, even though his year wasn’t bad for him at all. The problem with Sella is his mentality. He is very fragile. In the Giro he was too nervous all the time and for that reason he couldn’t make any better results than he did, but I hope it will be better next year.

Roberto Ferrari made a name for himself this season, what can we expect of him next year?
Roberto is a very good rider, but he was stopped by mononucleosis. He managed to finish the Giro, probably the only sprinter who did so, and then afterwards he found out he had mononucleosis. Something he had had since the third week of the race. So after the Giro he stopped and now he is preparing for the next season. He is a good sprinter and even though I hope he can beat Cavendish, I must also be realistic. We have to keep our feet on the ground. We will see…