Fassa Bortolo
| UCI code | FAS |
|---|---|
| Registered | Italy |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Disbanded | 2005 |
| Discipline | Road |
| General manager | Giancarlo Ferretti |
| 2005 - ProTour 2000-2004 Div. I |
Fassa Bortolo (FAS) Fassa Bortolo (FAS) |
Fassa Bortolo (2000–2005) was a professional road bicycle racing team founded in 2000 and led by Giancarlo Ferretti. Dubbed the 'Silver Team', it managed to be one of the most successful teams of the era, not in the least due to top sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. In its six competitive years, Fassa Bortolo won over 200 races, including stages in all three Grand Tours. It was one of the inaugural 20 UCI ProTour teams in 2005.
Fassa Bortolo stopped the sponsorship of the team after 2005. Efforts to find a new co-sponsor for 2006 proved unsuccessful. On October 14, 2005, a man claiming to represent proposed new sponsor Sony Ericsson turned out to be an imposter, leaving all staff and riders unemployed.
Petacchi and some of his helpers moved to the new Team Milram, a continuation of the Domina Vacanze Team. The other Fassa Bortolo riders all moved to different teams.
The main part of the riders signed early contracts with new teams for 2006, and eventually all riders found new teams.
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