Cannondale Pro Cycling Team

Cannondale Pro Cycling Team, previously known as Liquigas, was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. History The team was formed at the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005. the team was co-title sponsored by Italian companies Liquigas and Bianchi, therefore it was named Liquigas–Bianchi. It featured a number of big names including Italian riders Mario Cipollini, Danilo Di Luca and Stefano Garzelli, as well as Magnus Bäckstedt. In 2007, Cannondale replaced Bianchi as the bicycle sponsor. This marked Cannondale's return to the ProTour after discontinuing sponsorship of the Lampre–Caffita team at the end of the 2005 season. Being an American company, their sponsorship led to a small American ridership on the team. On 11 July 2008 the news broke from the French sports paper L'Équipe that Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán had tested positive for EPO after the first stage of the tour. It was blood abnormalities before the start of the tour that led France's Anti-Doping Agency to target the rider. According to AP a spokesperson for Liquigas confirmed the same day that Beltrán had been thrown off the tour. It was also reported that the police had picked Beltrán up from his hotel where he had been staying with the rest of the Liquigas team, as well as searching the rest of the hotel for more doping. It was later confirmed that his B-sample also tested positive.