When Ivan Santaromita, then freshly crowned as Italian champion, announced in the summer of 2013 that he was leaving BMC for Orica-GreenEdge, he spoke hopefully of how his new team would "give him space to grow as a rider".
Two seasons later, and after a restricted diet of racing during the 2015 campaign, Santaromita finds himself lining out at Continental level with the SkyDive Dubai outfit, following a less than fond farewell from the Australian team.
"Last year I only did 35 race days, and I think that’s a bit hard for a rider. I like to train and all that, but a rider needs to race. I raced very little last year, and I found myself in a situation that wasn’t easy," Santaromita told Cyclingnews at the Tour of Qatar.
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Santaromita’s problems at Orica-GreenEdge surfaced in the public domain as early as the opening night of the Giro d’Italia two years ago. He had not been given the honour of leading the team across the finish line in the Belfast team time trial to claim the first pink jersey of the race, and he was vocal in his disappointment. "I was the champion of Italy, and it was the Giro d’Italia," he said this week. "But it was their decision."
Towards the end of his tenure at Orica-GreenEdge last season, Santaromita’s unhappiness at the team became increasingly evident, though he remains vague on the precise reasons for the apparent breakdown in communication.
"It was just different ways of thinking, dai. Two different mentalities," he said, adding: "The longer it went on, the worse it got."
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