Gianni Savio promises Androni-Sidermec will be back in 2022 with new backers
An industrial drone company based in Spain will back the Italian team for the next four seasons.
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Gianni Savio and his long-running Italian team are not going anywhere.
Savio’s teams date back to the 1990s, yet his ubiquitous squad was missing from the UCI’s press release Tuesday among the 48 teams looking to secure racing licenses for the 2022 season.
Any reason to get worried?
Not so. Savio told VeloNews that the team — which will race with a new lead sponsor Drone Hopper for 2022 — will be in the peloton next season.
“There’s no problem for next year,” Savio told VeloNews. “There are carrying out some of the bureaucratic procedures that will be completed in the next few days.”
Also read: 48 teams file paperwork for racing licenses in 2022
Savio said everything will be in order for the team to meet the closing deadlines later this winter to assure his presence in the peloton going well into a fifth decade.
Savio confirmed that he has a four-year deal with Drone Hopper, an industrial drone company based in the outskirts of Madrid.
Also read: Gianni Savio on sponsor hunt ahead of Giro d’Italia
Officials later sent out a press release confirming that despite some delays in filing required paperwork the team will be back in the peloton in 2022.
The team, long known for its newspaper-styled jersey and over-achieving ambition, typically fights for a spot in the Giro d’Italia to do battle against the titans of the WorldTour.
“We know it’s all but impossible to compete for the overall against the WorldTour teams,” Savio said before his team’s 33rd Giro earlier this season. “They all want to win a stage or be on the podium. For us, we stick to our principal objectives — animate the breakaways and try to win a stage.”
