Cleto Sagripanti, President of the Italian Footwear Association, made the announcement yesterday.

Mr Cancellara, born in 1980, graduated in Economics and Institutional Business in Lugano. He worked for the Ferrari-Maserati Group early on in his career, and after a brief experience in consulting, has held positions of increasing responsibility at Technogym since 2010.

Over the past three years he has served as the Cesena-based company's Marketing Director of the Asia & Pacific region, based in China, in Shanghai.