Damiano Cunego has marked two very clear goals for his 2007 racing. Cunego, who said he enjoyed “excellent” winter training, is motivated to have a strong run at the Giro d’Italia podium and shine in the spring classics.

“Compared to 2006, it’s true there are less difficult stages but I don’t agree with those who said it’s less difficult,” Cunego told the Italian web page cicloweb.it. “It’s a balanced course with a few decisive days.”

Cunego won the 2004 Giro in spectacular fashion, but suffered through media pressure and health issues in 2005 only to bounce back with a solid campaign last year that included an impressive debut at the Tour de France.

Lampre-Fondital won’t be building its entire team solely around Cunego and that’s fine with him. Sprinters Danilo Napolitano and Daniele Bennati are expected to get chances in the flats while Alessandro Ballan and Giuliano Figueras will have freedom to attack in the transition stages.

“It’s a big team with a lot of options in different courses,” he said. “The presence by my side of riders who can perform at a high level is a good thing for the team and for me as well as their victories can take pressure off me.”

Already a winner at the Giro di Lombardia as part of his magical 2004 season, Cunego is putting an equal focus on the classics. Third last year in La Doyenne, the Italian has only put Amstel Gold and Liège on his tentative schedule.

“Liège is a race that suits me well and last year I already finished on the podium,” Cunego said. “It’s not impossible to think of winning Milan-San Remo, but things would have to go very well. It’s a nervous race, long and it’s difficult to try to arrive alone and I certainly can’t think of winning with Petacchi and Boonen at the line.”

The Piccolo Principe will make his season debut at Ruta del Sol later this month before racing the Vuelta a Murcia, Criterium International, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour de Romandie or the Giro di Trentino ahead of the Giro.

Despite claiming the best young rider’s jersey in his Tour debut last year, Cunego hasn’t committed to racing in July. He’s considering skipping the Tour and riding back into form during the Vuelta a España and make a run at the world championships in Germany as well as the fall classics.

For 2008, Cunego hinted he might skip the Giro to tackle the Tour with ambitions for the overall. Most OP riders finding work
The Spanish daily AS had an interesting take on the ongoing travails of riders implicated in the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation last year.

With almost none of the more than 50 riders linked to controversial Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes facing racing sanctions, most have been able to land a contract to race for the coming season.

While the investigation officially remains open, additional incriminating information isn’t expected to come out of Spanish courts. That could change if judges call in cyclists as witnesses if Fuentes and other facing legal charges ever go to court.

In the meantime, riders are trying to pick up the pieces of their respective careers and move on.

The AS story reported that of the 51 riders linked to Puerto, 43 will ride in the peloton in 2007. Most have been forced to accept contracts with non-ProTour teams and agree to financial conditions inferior to what they were earning last year.

Two Spanish teams have especially benefited from the Puerto effect. Relax-GAM has signed five – Francisco Mancebo (ex-Ag2r), Oscar Sevilla (ex-T-Mobile), Santi Pérez (serving ban), Angel Vicioso (ex-Liberty) and Jan Hruska (ex-3 Molinas) – while Fuerteventura-Canarias has picked up six riders on the former Kelme/Comunidad Valenciana team.

Only six riders have landed on ProTour teams, headlined by the controversial signing of Ivan Basso (ex-CSC) along with Sergio Paulinho (ex-Liberty) to join Discovery Channel. Saunier Duval-Prodir has kept Koldo Gil and Carlos Zárate and Illes Balears with Constantino Zaballa, though he’s not officially back in the team. Giampaolo Caruso (ex-Liberty) signed with Lampre-Fondital.

Not all riders have had it so easy. Ruben Plaza (ex-Comunidad Valencia) remains unemployed while Spanish rider Carlos Garcia Quesada was dropped by new ProTour team Unibet.com. Jorg Jaksche (ex-Liberty) lost a chance to join continental team Volksbank following pressure from Tour of Germany race organizers to keep Puerto riders out of its race this summer.

Jaksche joined six other ex-Liberty riders, among them, Joseba Beloki, Unai and Aitor Osa, David Etxebarria, Eladio Sánchez and Ramírez Abeja, in a lawsuit seeking damages from the troubled team ownership for back pay. None of those riders have scored contracts.

Jan Ullrich (ex-T-Mobile) remains the biggest name without a job for 2007. The 1997 Tour winner is still wrangling with the Swiss cycling federation to get cleared to return to competition this season. He’s been linked to several teams, including Tinkoff, Relax-GAM and Acqua e Sapone, but one thing is sure: T-Mobile officials has insisted he won’t be welcomed back.

Barloworld dreams of Giro invite
Barloworld lost in its bid to join the ProTour league and now it’s up for another fight to earn a spot in the 2007 Giro d’Italia. Former Saeco/Lampre boss Claudio Corti directs the continental team with ProTour team ambitions.

“Of course, we were disappointed not have obtained a ProTour license, but we’re more hopeful of gaining a bid to the Giro than we are for the Tour,” Corti told TuttoBici. “On the other hand, we must continue in the development of our plan in respect to our original objective, that is setting the highest professional standard, with no tolerance for doping and the maximum synergy with our sponsors Barloworld and Cannondale.”

The continental team is hoping some strong off-season acquisitions will bolster its chances. Fabrizio Guidi, Robert Hunter, Enrico Degano and Felix Cardenas join Alexandre Efimkin, Gianpaolo Cheula and Ryan Cox to provide the team a solid base.

Some early season wins will help their cause in a big way.