November 15, 2006 – Charles Dionne held a press conference today in Quebec City to announce that he has signed with Colavita/Sutter Home for 2007. Team manager, Jim Williams confirmed that Dionne has signed with the team and commented, “Tom Schuler, our director, is very excited to have a rider of Charles’ ability to be racing for the team.”

According to reports today in the Journal de Montreal and Journal de Quebec, Mauro Gianetti, Dionne’s current directeur sportif at Saunier Duval-Prodir was unhappy with Dionne’s apparent lack of transparency concerning the external endofibrosis of the iliac artery in his left hip. Dionne is recovering well from recent surgery to correct the problem.

“The doctor told us that it was a fairly serious problem. It (now) seems that the problem existed even before Charles arrived (on our team) and that he didn’t really inform us of it,” said Gianetti. “Charles is a good guy and I don’t think that this involved bad faith (on his part). He probably thought that the problem would resolve itself,” added Gianetti.

Dionne is looking to rebound from a year in which his racing was limited by injuries and is excited to be once again racing in North America.