Il CPS Professional Team The 2023 season that is about to begin promises to be a great team, in terms of the number of athletes, the quality of the organization, and its ambition. The team is headed by Clemente Cavaliere, but the one to present the technical project to us is one of the new sporting directors who together with the Campania manager gave life to this interesting multi-regional initiative, if we can say so: we are talking about Andrea Bardelli.
The Tuscan sporting director, we had him already written, had come out of the Team Franco Ballerini, which he had been passionately following for some time. After a difficult time over the summer, all it took was an idea, the right people, and this project was quickly born.
Three groups, one team
«In fact – explains Bardelli – we are three groups coming together. Cavaliere's one, with his boys in Campania, mine in Tuscany with some of the athletes who followed me from Ballerini and other new ones, and Luciano Cardone's one from Nuovaciclistica Arma Team Ballerini in Liguria."
All this was also possible because the Federation he removed the mixed teams, in fact, double affiliations in this or that region and each boy can freely move from one committee to another (paying the points to the committee of origin).
«The boys will all be registered in Campania. And there are quite a few of them, 19 in total. About ten in Campania, and another nine make up the group from central-northern Tuscany and Liguria. Several first-year students are part of the roster. And one that comes to mind is Lorenzo Mark Finn, a really promising kid.
«He was the best in Liguria: six victories, many podiums and excellent skills as a climber and rouleur. Plus I took on a Slovakian, Matthias Schwarzbacher I've been following him for two years. He recently came eighth at the European Cross Country Championships, a friend of mine. Martin Svrcek. And also a Ukrainian boy, Dniil Shyrin. Because of the war, they can freely join the army."
Double activity
Bardelli continues to explain the CPS project. With 19 kids, there's no shortage of work, and that's why... There will be four sports directors: in addition to him, there will be Pasquale Santoro and Maurizio Capossela, historical sports directors of the CPS, and Gianluca Oddone of the Nuova Ciclistica Arma – Team Ballerini.
«The idea is to do double duty – says Bardelli – one further North and one in the Center-South. The boys will swap places based on the timing of their training and the characteristics of the competitions. But in general we want to put everyone in the best possible position.
"There are two main retreats: one in Montoro, near Avellino, and one in Tuscany, which I've identified near Arezzo. And we also have a base in Liguria. We will create a national and international calendar and we will also go abroad. You know I like it. We have already received an invitation to the Aubel, the most important stage race in Belgium. and others for events such as Liège and Flanders."
The team manager speaks
So, we were talking about 19 young people traveling from San Remo to Puglia. A large portion of Italy, and this opens up ambitious, as well as evocative, scenarios.
«I do not hide – intervenes patron Cavaliere – that Within two years, but hopefully next year, I'd like to be the best team in the national rankings. After so many years of activity, it's a whim I'd like to indulge. and I think we have the potential to do it. I expect a good season from Saverio Russo, who won two important races in his first year. While among the "first years" he could do well Luca Attolini».
«How did this project come about? It all started in one day, thanks to Bardelli's enthusiasm, which got him involved himself! I knew he was a sporting director who knows how to do things well with his passion. We met at a well-known hotel in Montecatini: he, Luciano Cardone, and I.
«We'll meet with the central-southern group, which includes five players from Campania, one from Puglia, and some players from Lazio, at the end of this month. While between Christmas and New Year's when the kids don't have school we'll all be together"
