Alessio–Bianchi was an Italian professional

cycling team A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...

which existed from 1998 to 2004. It was created in 1998 as Ballan. In 1999 Italian wheels manufacturer Alessio came in as co-sponsor, and in 2000 as main sponsor. The team was dissolved by the end of the 2004 season.

History

The team began in 1998 as Ballan. Flavio Miozzo, the team director said he selected the riders for the team very carefully filling a roster of only fourteen riders and hoping to race in some of the largest races in the world.

2004

The final year of the team started with a team presentation in Italy with Bianchi coming across from the now defunct to sponsor the team. In early February news surfaced of the team being unable to pay some of their Scandinavian riders. On 13 February 2004 Memory Corp came in as a new sponsor to cover the wages of the riders who missed theirs. The team's first win came in Stage 3 of Giro della Provincia di Lucca by Alessandro Bertolini which led to Bertolini taking the leaders jersey by 1:51. Bertolini was one of eighteen who finished inside the time limit of the stage after the peloton allowed the break to get an advantage of over thirty minutes. Bertolini held onto the jersey to take the overall finishing 9 seconds down on the stage 4 winner Florent Brard. One of the Team's goals was the

2004 Tour de France The 2004 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 91st edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Ant ...

with Pietro Caucchioli being their man in contention for the overall. The team had two riders finish in the top 10 of Stage 3.

Final Roster (2004)

Major wins

Sources: ;1998 : Stage 1 Giro di Calabria, Endrio Leoni : Stage 4

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian Sea, Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of th ...

, Gabriele Colombo : Stage 3a

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk () is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been held over a 5 or 6 day period for ...

, Alexandre Gontchenkov : Stage 5

, Gabriele Colombo : Luk-Cup Bühl, Piotr Ugrumov ;1999 : Stage 5 Tour Méditerranéen, Fabio Baldato : Trofeo Pantalica, Andrea Ferrigato :

Berner Rundfahrt Tour de Berne is an elite professional road bicycle racing event held in Bern, Switzerland with races for men and women. Men's event The men's event began in 1920 and has previously been a UCI 1.2 rated event on the UCI Europe Tour. Women's ...

, Andrea Ferrigato : Stage 4 Giro del Trentino, Alexandre Gontchenkov : Stage 2

, Andrea Ferrigato : Stage 1 OBV Classic, Carlo Finco : Stage 2 Danmark Rundt, Fabio Baldato : Stage 3 Danmark Rundt, Nicola Loda : Stage 4

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Gilberto Simoni Gilberto Simoni (born 25 August 1971) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, most recently for . Simoni won the Giro d'Italia cycling race twice: once in 2001 and again in 2003. In 2002 he tested positive for cocaine and was with ...

;2001 : Stage 2 & 8

, Endrio Leoni : Stages 8 & 17

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

, Pietro Caucchioli ;2002 : Stage 6

, Franco Pellizotti : Stage 4 Tour of the Basque Country, Franco Pellizotti : Stages 17 & 20

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, Angelo Furlan ;2003 : Stage 5

, Ruggero Marzoli : Stage 3

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, Laurent Dufaux : Stage 2

, Fabio Baldato ;2004 : Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca, Alessandro Bertolini ::Stage 3, Alessandro Bertolini :

Gran Premio di Chiasso The Gran Premio di Chiasso () was an annual road bicycle race held in Chiasso, Switzerland. It was a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by ...

, Franco Pellizotti : Paris-Roubaix, Magnus Bäckstedt : Stage 5 Course de la Paix, Martin Hvastija : Stage 1 Route du Sud,

Cristian Moreni Cristian Moreni (born 21 November 1972 in Asola) is an Italian former road racing cyclist who competed as a professional from 1998 to 2000. He took eight wins in his career, including stages of the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, the Ita ...

: Road Race Championships,

: Scandinavian Open Road Race, Marcus Ljungqvist :

Coppa Bernocchi The Coppa Bernocchi is a European Road bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Legnano, Italy. From 2005 to 2019, the race was organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, before joining the UCI ProSeries in 2020. In 1 ...

, Angelo Furlan : Stages 1 & 4

Tour de Pologne The Tour de Pologne (; ), officially abbreviated TdP, is an annual, professional men's Race stage, multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km ...

, Fabio Baldato

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alessio-Bianchi Defunct cycling teams based in Italy Cycling teams established in 1998 Cycling teams disestablished in 2004 1998 establishments in Italy 2004 disestablishments in Italy