Green/blue Exodus continues as key riders join Spanish team

Both Eros Capecchi and Sylwester Szmyd will leave the Liquigas-Cannondale team in 2013, and head for Movistar, the Spanish team has announced. The two riders are the latest names to be confirmed as departing the green and blue Italian team, with Vincenzo Nibali, Valerio Agnoli and Alessandro Vanotti heading to Astana, and Dominik Nerz and Daniel Oss joining BMC Racing.



Capecchi had been rumoured to be heading to Movistar, while Szmyd had confirmed on his personal website, but had refused to name the destination.



“Szmyd has shown through all these years that he's one of the biggest domestiques in the mountains, and his signing can do really well for us,” said Movistar team manager Eusebio Unzué. “Plus, Capecchi is a talent still with a huge margin of progression, and I think he might be able to tackle big goals in Grand Tours into a short term."



Polish rider Szmyd has been with Liquigas-Cannondale since 2009, and was one of the key riders for Ivan Basso in his victorious 2010 Giro d’Italia campaign. He performed the role again this year, but the 34-year-old didn’t have the legs to finish the job as he had done two years ago. The 33-year-old’s personal results have been few and far between - since he has usually been working hard for other peoples’ - but his biggest result to date has been his stage victory on top of Mont Ventoux in the 2009 Critérium du Dauphiné, where he outsprinted Alejandro Valverde, who will be his teammate next year.



Capecchi meanwhile, has long been hailed as one of the big future stars of Italian cycling, having joined Liquigas as a 19-year-old stagiaire in 2005. After two full years with the team, he left for Saunier Duval-Scott - which lost its main sponsor that year after both Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli tested positive for CERA, the 3rd generation EPO - but returned last year.



The 26-year-old’s biggest results to date have been a stage victory in the 2011 Giro, and a solo victory in this February’s GP Lugano.



The two riders’ departure take the number of confirmed Liquigas-Cannondale departures to seven in recent days. There is currently no confirmation of the Italian team’s immediate future, with main sponsor Liquigas ending its eight-year association, but - with Cannondale still in place - the team is still expected to be at the top level next year with stars like Slovakian champion Peter Sagan, and emerging talent Moreno Moser - the nephew of legendary rider Francesco Moser - along with the experienced Basso.