Former professional rider Sonny Colbrelli is ready to take the step into the directeur sportif position with Bahrain Victorious subsequent season.
The Italian was once compelled to retire from racing early within the 2022 season after collapsing with an volatile cardiac arrhythmia on the Volta a Catalunya. His go out from the peloton was once showed later within the 12 months as he took up an envoy position along with his staff.
He was once set to stick within the position till 2024, with staff supervisor Milan Eržen pronouncing he may just “percentage his revel in” with the staff from a backroom.
Alternatively, the 33-year-old will transfer right into a director position for the brand new season, the Slovenian boss advised GCN.
“At the present time no person is coming in, however Sonny goes to do the UCI direction later this month,” Eržen mentioned. “So, he’ll be an increasing number of concerned, particularly within the Belgian Classics.
“So, we will have about seven or 8 sports activities administrators. This 12 months Sonny was once an envoy for the staff, however we already had him at races as a result of he has large revel in in terms of Belgium and races like Paris-Roubaix.
“Subsequent 12 months he’ll have extra involvement. He is a legend. The younger guys may just see him on TV and now they get to paintings with him on the race. That is an enormous motivation for the younger riders.”
Former Paris-Roubaix winner Colbrelli will sign up for a number of different ex-pros within the director position for Bahrain Victorious, together with Franco Pellizotti, Roman Kreuziger, Michał Gołas, Xavier Florencio, Gorazd Stangelj, and Neil Stephens.
He and the remainder of the staff’s backroom group of workers shall be operating with the staff’s now-full roster of 28 riders, with Eržen confirming that there are not any additional incoming names for 2024.
“Now our focal point is on younger guys for the long run, and we attempt to win with those guys,” he mentioned. “I do not believe making an investment in older guys is the suitable manner. We now have 28 riders for subsequent 12 months and we do not run a 3rd programme.
“We’re going to do the WorldTour and a few preparation races, and that is the reason it. Jumbo and UAE, those groups are operating complete 3rd programmes to look who’s the most efficient on the planet on the finish of the 12 months however we focal point at the WorldTour.”
For the brand new season, the staff will welcome neo professionals Finlay Pickering and Alberto Bruttomesso in addition to Uno-X rider Torstein Træen. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) head up the outgoing listing along Filip Maciejuk, who switches to Bora-Hansgrohe.