Above: David de la Fuente, Jesus del Nero, Ricardo Serrano, Benat Intxausti, Hector Gonzalez and Alberto Benitez, showing the team outfit.This group of riders will be the contenders from Fuji’s side at Tour de San Luis.
The first competition ever ridden by the FUJI-SERVETTO team turned into the first top-ten spot for the squad directed by Alvaro Crespi. The team showed up in their new colors by taking part of the Cancer Council Classic, a 51-km criterium race on the streets of Australian city of Adelaide. With more than 150,000 spectators seeing the race live, the race finished with a mass sprint. Hilton Clarke (Fuji-Servetto) came across the line in 9th place, and at home rider Robbie McEwen (Katusha) snatched the win.
Clarke went into the last kilometer in perfect position, thanks to the great teamwork by all of the squad, especially from his leadout teammate Davide Vigano; however, Clarke got out of place in the second to last turn of the circuit.
CANCER COUNCIL CLASSIC 2009
CLASSIFICATION:
1. Robbie McEwen (Katusha) 1.04.32
2. Wim Stroetinga (Milram) s.t.
3. Graeme Brown (Rabobank) s.t.
4. Andre Greipel (Columbia) s.t.
5. José Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse d'Epargne) s.t.
6. Allan Davis (Quick Step) s.t.
7. Baden Cooke (UniSA) s.t.
8. Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas) s.t.
9. Hilton Clarke (FUJI-SERVETTO) 0.01
10. Chris Sutton (Garmin-Slipstream) s.t.
…
75. Daniele Nardello (FUJI-SERVETTO) 0.24
94. Ivan Dominguez (FUJI-SERVETTO) 0.27
95. Ermanno Capelli (FUJI-SERVETTO) s.t.
102. Javier Megias (FUJI-SERVETTO) 0.28
106. William Walker (FUJI-SERVETTO) s.t.
130. Davide Vigano (FUJI-SERVETTO) 0.43
The “Blue squad” will spend next Monday morning on active rest training, before taking part of the Tour Down Under, the first race counting for the UCI ProTour and the World Calendar standings, on Tuesday.
Prior to that, a second team unit will start their participation in the 3rd edition of the Tour de San Luis, with the troubles regarding the bike delivery delay that's being solved right now.
See photo above.