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. [1]
From the 2009 Giro d'Italia until the 2012 Tour de France, the team finished every Grand Tour with all nine riders, a total of 11 such events in succession.
For the 2013 season Liquigas-Cannondale became Cannondale Pro Cycling as Cannondale Bicycle Corporation took over as the title sponsor in partnership with Brixia Sports. [2] In August 2014 the team announced their intention to merge with EF Education–EasyPost for the 2015 season. [3]
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