THE TEAM MANAGER
Gianni Savio is the charismatic silver-haired boss of the Androni squad. He’s been in the game for the best part of 30 years, over the course of which his suave demeanour and vivacious personality have made him one of the sport’s great eccentrics. If he has endured for so long in the precarious world of professional cycling management – in Italy no less – it’s in no small part thanks to his eye for young blood. In that respect, Colombia has been his happiest hunting ground. Nelson Rodríguez, Freddy González, Miguel Ángel Rubiano… the names roll off his tongue, alongside others from Venezuela and across South America who have marked the history of his teams. His latest ‘discoveries’ may just top the lot: Egan Bernal and Ivan Sosa.
Savio’s relationship with South America began in 1983 when he started travelling there to watch races. He discovered Colombia through the Clásico de la Frontera. That’s where the relationship started,” he says. “Since then Colombia has given me extraordinary satisfaction.” The sports ministries of Colombia and Venezuela have sponsored his teams and Savio worked as technical director for the Colombian Cycling Federation in the early 2000s. He still visits a few times a year.
“In Colombia I have informants. Above all, I have a friend – in fact he’s more like a brother to me – called Héctor Urrego. He’s the head of cycling at RCN [a Colombian media company] and he knows everything about Colombian cycling. He can tell me everything about everyone. He’s a very important reference point for me. I have various other contacts out there, but they give me general news and information. Urrego is my point of reference.”
Bernal and Sosa have highlighted that, for someone like Savio, the mining of young Colombian talent represents a lucrative business opportunity – if not a goldmine then at least a means to stay afloat. Bernal, a mountain biker when Savio met him, was signed in 2015 on a four-year deal after just one glance at the results from a recent fitness test. Bernal’s ascent has been so rapid that it didn’t take long for the WorldTour teams to come knocking,
and Team Sky had to ‘buy out’ the remaining two years of his contract.
“When I see a young talent, I rarely give the UCI-minimum contract; I make an offer better than the minimum. It’s often three or four years with a bonus. Then there’s always a clause; if a WorldTour team is interested, they can make an offer, and if we have the money to match it, we keep him. But usually a WorldTour team can offer two or three times what we can, so they can sign the rider but only if they pay us a development fee.
“We look for the rider, we discover the rider, we nurture them, we launch their professional career. It’s only right that if a WorldTour team wants to sign someone who is already formed, that we get something back for the work we’ve put in.”
The same has happened with Sosa, who, despite his contract expiring this year, will still earn Savio a development fee when he moves to Trek-Segafredo – in 2019. Savio has just brought aboard his latest project, Daniel Muñoz, on a four-year contract.
“I don’t do it for business; it’s a passion,” insists Savio. “I have great passion for sport. I used to be in football, and now cycling. And it’s a passion of mine to discover young talent. Of course, there is an economic side, because I have to be able to have a team, but it is a passion. For example, Egan Bernal will win a grand tour – that’s guaranteed – and I will take such great satisfaction in seeing him do so.”
Egan Bernal will win a grand tour – that’s guaranteed, and I will take great satisfaction in seeing him do so