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21st November 2006:
Leda Cox Signs for top Italian Pro team.
After a testing year of
racing by herself on the professional women’s circuit Leda Cox,
from St Albans in Hertfordshire has signed for one of Italy’s
professional UCI teams, team Saccarelli.
Cox’s last UCI
Professional team dissolved in January of this year leaving her
without a contract or a team. With the help of her personal
sponsors, Onimpex and Billato she was still able to compete full
time and set about making a name for herself in Belgium and in a
short while she had a string of top five places to her name in
Elite Kermesses. Later in the year she came a creditable 3rd in
the Karrakurrams Tour in Pakistan before riding as a stagiere
for the pro team ‘SystemData’ in the final UCI womens’ tour of
the year, the Giro Toscana. It was here that she caught the eye
of the team Saccarelli management as she worked to keep her
Brazilian team leader in her high GC position.
Cox’s 2007 season will
see her based in the Teams’ quarters in Marciano in Umbria,
central Italy. Her early season will build up to the first
European world cup races with the Tour of Flanders in early
April, closely followed by the Fleche Wallone classic and then
the Tour de Berne world cup in Switzerland. The middle part of
the season will no doubt be dominated by the Giro D’Italia in
which Cox will be hoping to rid a few ‘demons’ having ridden the
majority of her only attempt at the race in 2005 with broken
ribs. Cox’s reaction to the signing was one of satisfaction
after a hard year in 2006 out on the circuit by herself:
“I’m pleased that my
efforts as one of Britains’ few Pro Elite women have been
recognised. Saccarelli is by far the best team I will have
ridden for and I am looking forward to riding all the classic
races again after all the gains in strength and speed that I
have made over the last year whilst I was out there fending for
myself in the races that I was able to get into. I will be back
In the UK for our national Road championships and I hope to be
doing some more derny racing if my new team will allow me as I
seem to have caught the ‘derny-bug’ this year so I will be back
at least twice.”
Further information on
the team can be found on their website:
http://www.saccarelli.it.
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