Italian champion Filippo Zana joins Team BikeEchange - Jayco

It was an open secret for the last few weeks, Team BikeExchange - Jayco have struck again as they manage to bring in the Italian champion and promising climber Filippo Zana into their ranks with a three-year deal.

This year Zana has won, after a disappointing Giro d'Italia, both the Adriatica Ionica Race and the Italian national championships, putting both him and Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè in the spotlight after developing what is one of the most promising talents from a country with so much tradition and history in the sport. After the signings of Eddie Dunbar and Chris Harper, the Italian will further reinforce the team's abilities in the mountains, aswell as it's focus on the Italian riders.

“I have lots of emotions and lots of motivation to train more and better to keep improving and pay off the trust Team BikeExchange-Jayco is giving to me, from Brent [Copeland] to all the staff I have been speaking with," Zana said in a press release." We have many goals and we will try to achieve them. Of course next year will also be important for me to keep honouring the Italian national champion’s jersey, and to start off on a good path with this jersey will be even more important for me".

Zana is currently racing the Sazka Tour where he is attempting to revalidate his title. Last year, besides the Czech race, the 23-year old also won the Course de la Paix and finished the Tour de l'Avenir in third place only behind Tobias Johannessen and Carlos Rodríguez.