Apparantly not clearly noticeable, but Team Milram had a very important change in the team this winter. Team boss Gianluigi Stanga had to give up his spot and Protour-licence because of supposed involvement with doping sinner Jörg Jaksche. In the mean time his successor Gerry van Gerwen moved the focus of the team towards the youth. The signing of Christian Kux (1985), Dominik Roels (1987), Luca Barla (1987) and Artur Gajek (1985) underlines this choice. The biggest name that was brought to the dairy company was the espoirs world champion Peter Velits, together with his brother Martin.


Veteran Enrico Poitschke (turns 39 in August) can stay for another year, together with the stars Zabel and Petacchi, but Celestino and Astarloa were offered a bag of money to find other challenges, away from Milram. The Italian started mountainbiking, but the unpredictable Spaniard still hopes for improvement after a year that was mostly ruined by toxoplasmosis. His start in Australia was hopeful, but due to the lack of confidence any friction could cause an end in the confidence and break the team spirit.


Besides the big races where Petacchi or Zabel can show their qualities (the grand tours, Milan-San Remo, Gent-Wevelgem, Paris-Tours) any good result will be a victory. The Velits twins offer hope for Van Gerwen that at one time he can play a role in the general classification. Especially Peter Velits, the most talented of the two, will be able to show his potential in Paris-Nice for the first time. It’s typical that he is already one of the captains in the classics of April. Knees, Eichler, Gajek and Terpstra can also be certain of a fresh spring.


Next to the youthful additions to the team, Milram also had to take some serious losses. Sieberg went to High Road, Siedler (Skil-Shimano) and Lorenzetto (Lampre) were offered better chances as the first sprinter elsewhere. With the retired Cortinovis, and Sacchi and the talented Sconagmiglio moving to Preti Mangimi and Barloworld, the Milram train lost a few important riders.


For now Milram completely depends on the qualities of Alessandro Petacchi. The danger for Van Gerwen is that after the retirement of Zabel next year and the possibly near retirement of Petacchi his team could collapse due to a lack of enforcements. The team has a few great talents (Grivko, Sabatini, Peter Velits, Dyudya), but can’t build on that potential. With the leaving next year of Astarloa as the unreliable captain in the classics, they really have to hope for an injury free year for Petacchi.


In
Luca Barla (neo), Markus Eichler (Unibet.com), Artur Gajek, Martin Velits, Peter Velits (Team Wiesenhof-Felt), Christian Kux (Team Milram-Continental), Dominik Roels (Akud-Rose)


Out
Mirko Celestino, Alessandro Cortinovis (retired), Mirco Lorenzetto (Team Lampre), Fabio Sacchi (Preti Mangimi), Carlo Scognamiglio (Barloworld), Marcel Sieberg (Team High Road), Sebastian Siedler (Skil-Shimano)