Operacion Puerto: The cases have to be dealt with

2006 was once again an unforgettable year for the Quickstep – Innergetic Team – a team in the limelight for 10 months from January, with their seasonal debut at the Tour of Qatar that was won by Tom Boonen, right up until October with Paolo Bettini’s extraordinary victory at the Tour of Lombardy.

The Quickstep – Innergetic Team didn’t limit itself to racing on the ‘old continent’ but also took part in races in the USA at the Tour of Georgia and on the Arabian peninsular at the Tour of Qatar. All in all the team won a total of 45 UCI official calendar races thanks to the following 11 athletes that come from 5 different nations (Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain and France):

Tom Boonen (21 wins), Paolo Bettini (9), Filippo Pozzato (2), Nick Nuyens (2), Francesco Chicchi (3), Steven De Jongh (2), Juan Manuel Garate (1), Matteo Tosatto (1), Kevin Van Impe (2), Cedric Vasseur (1) and Remmert Wielinga (1).

Members of the team were protagonists both at the great classic races, the northern circuit and also at the 3 great Tours winning stages at the Tour of France, Tour of Italy and the Vuelta España. Amongst some of the best moments of the season in chronological order we really must remember: in March – Filippo Pozzato at the Milano Sanremo, in April – Tom Boonen at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, in May – the Tour of Italy when Paolo Bettini won the 1st stage and cyclamen jersey and Juan Manuel Garate won the 1st Dolomite stage and green jersey as best climber, in June – the Italian Championships won by Bettini, in July – the Tour of France where Boonen gained the yellow jersey and Matteo Tosatto won a stage. We then move on to the grand finale of the season with Bettini winning a stage at the Vuelta, the World Championships and the Tour of Lombardy. Without doubt the highlight of the season was when Paolo Bettini won the iridescent jersey at the Salzburg World Championships. After the Athens 2004 Olympics the “Grillo” finally managed to gain the World Championship title, title that he had been out to gain for many years.

It was in Austria that we saw an unprecedented handing-over passage with the World Champion jersey going from the young champion Tom Boonen to a mature champion and maybe even the greatest one-day race champion of the past 10 years Paolo Bettini meaning that once again in 2007 the iridescent jersey stays within the Quickstep – Innergetic Team.

Paolo Bettini framed a masterwork of a season and Tom Boonen reconfirmed himself as an authentic modern cycling phenomenon gaining a remarkable amount of victories - a total of 21 that, along with the 2 gained at minor races, bring his total up to 23 seasonal wins. With regard to minor races a mention must also go to the young Belgian athlete Wouter Weylandt who won the West-Vlaamse Vichte race.

The Quickstep– Innergetic Team has been on the highest step of the winners’ podium for a total of 152 times over the past 4 years – an amazing achievement. During these 4 years, 5 World Championship titles have been won, 2 on road thanks to Boonen and Bettini and 3 timed titles thanks to Michael Rogers who also broke a record by gaining 2 World Championship titles on road/timed at Madrid in 2005. A continuous and unstoppable trail of victories amongst which 10 classics: 2 Milan-Sanremo, 2 Ronde Van Vlaanderen, 2 Tours of Lombardy, 2 Hamburg, 1 Paris-Roubaix, 1 Clasica de San Sebastian, 1 Zurich GP plus Bettini’s 2 World Cups of 2003 and 2004.

A great thank you goes to all athletes and technical staff that have flown high the Quickstep– Innergetic Team colours. A special heartfelt thank you also goes to the thousands of fans that have followed, supported and cheered-on our athletes throughout this fantastic season.

2007 promises yet again to be another season of great cycling along with the Quickstep – Innergetic Team.

Source: Quickstep-Innergetic