Italian director Stefano Zanatta joins the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team 2021 project

Stefano Zanatta (1964), from Varese, joins the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team, where he will be the director for the next season. Zanatta has joined the professional structure of the Contador Foundation after five campaigns behind the Bardiani-CSF wheels.

As a rider, the Varese was a professional for ten seasons in which he stood out as a team man. He made his debut in the Malvor and spent six years in the Gatorade structure alongside a Gianni Bugno whom he helped in four editions of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. On the Corsa Rosa, where he participated on nine occasions, he also worked for Laurent Fignon’s options. His record includes a single victory, a stage in the 1993 Tour of Mexico.

“I have had the opportunity to be under Stefano’s command in the Fassa Bortolo and in all my seasons in the Liquigas and I can talk in first person about his great work. He always had great riders under his command, but at the same time he worked a lot with young people. He directed Nibali, Sagan, Oss, De Marchi, Caruso, Formolo,… Stefano values the veterans and also believes in the development of the talents. In a new project like ours, we believe that the energy of the young and the experience of the veterans form a winning combination. And Stefano has been instrumental in getting other big projects off the ground,” explains sports manager Ivan Basso about this incoming.

Zanatta joins Jesús Hernández, Dario Andriotto and Félix García Casas. “I am very excited about this new project. Ivan and I have always had a very good relationship, we have coincided on many occasions and he has periodically talked to me about his ideas and projects with great enthusiasm. I knew about the work they were doing at the Foundation. From the outside, in the competition, it was clear that Kometa was not just a continental team. A lot of organization, a very competent staff… In two years here, very interesting riders have passed through and are now in the World Tour. Working with the youngest always seemed to me to be one of the most beautiful things in my profession and I like to keep an eye on their developments, for which the Internet is very useful. In 2021 we are facing a new category and I am convinced that it will be a great year”.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)