Known for the fuchsia pink and blue, Lampre-Merida has been part of the Peloton for 22 years bringing a special Italian passion and amore to the sport. Known for their publicity stunts including a training session on the Monza race track during the 2005 Giro, Lampre is a team that has accumulated a wealth of success over the past two decades.

Generally Lampre has a season full of celebrations after a variety of stage wins, however when the 2012 season finished they had barely established a reason to smile with an unimpressive 7 victories. With the lack of results coming in Lampre will be certain of attacking from the start of the season and the team put together for the Tour Down Under is attractive to say the least.

Leading the Italian strong team is Aussie Matthew Lloyd who is best known for being the first Australian to win a King of the Mountains classification in a grand tour when he won the jersey in the 2010 Giro d’Italia.

Italian sprinter Elia Favilli will also join the group. Last season Elia managed 4 top 10 finishes coming from Italian team Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli to make this his first appearance with Lampre.

Joining the ranks is yet another sprinter as Lampre pull out the stops to try and secure stage wins this tour. Roberto Ferrari had four first place wins last season riding for Androni Giocattoli including a win on stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia.

The remaining team will be there to try and secure a safe place in the peloton for the team leader and sprinters to give them the best opportunities for crossing the line first. Hoping the 2013 will be more successful, with new bikes and a handful of new talent Lampre-Merida may be a team worth looking out for this year.

Team Roster :

Matthew Lloyd (AUS)

Davide Cimolai (ITA)

Elia Favilli (ITA)

Roberto Ferrari (ITA)

Manuele Mori (ITA)

Daniele Pietropolli (ITA)

Simone Stortoni (ITA)