Tour de Romandie Heats Up, Read More
Stage 1 of the Giro, Bettini in Pink
Colle delle Finestre, Marco Pinotti
What is the Ciclamino?
10 May 2005
11 May News ...
Tour de France to Cyclotourist Rides
![Delgado](javascript:ImagePopup("../../photo/rider/DelgadoPedro/sitePedroDelgadoFlag1988TourWinner.jpg", 479, 611, "Pedro Delgado, 1988 Tour de France Winner"); "Pedro Delgado, 1988 Tour de France Winner, photo: PedroDelgado.com")
1988 Tour de France Winner, photo: PedroDelgado.com
Whether you're a Periquista or an Indurainista, you can't deny the impact that Pedro "Perico" Delgado has had on cycling. He was one of the classiest riders of his generation. He is also one heck of a nice guy. Delgado's palmarès include a Tour de France title and a couple of Vuelta a Españas as well as countless other victories. Read BiciRace.com's exclusive chat with Perico to find out what he's been up to since retirement.
Interviewed by Paco of BiciRace.com
BiciRace.com: Of the current crop of Spanish professionals, who do you see as having the physical characteristics necessary to win a race like the Tour de France?
Pedro Delgado: Possibly Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros-Würth). He's quite young but perhaps in a few years, if things go his way, he'll be a rider with a lot of options. He's a very strong climber and time trialer, which are the basic components necessary to win a major tour.
Read more of the BiciRace.com interview with Pedro Delgado.
McEwen Wins Stage and Maglia Rosa
![Robbie McEwen Wins](javascript:ImagePopup("../../photo/2005/Giro/02/DavitamonRobbieMcEwenWins.jpg", 640, 374, "Robbie McEwen Wins"); "Robbie McEwen Wins, photo: Davitamon-Lotto")
Robbie McEwen Wins, photo: Davitamon-Lotto
Yesterday (stage 2) in the Giro d'Italia the riders tackled 182K from Catanzaro Lido to Santa Maria del Cedro. The Fassa Bortolo/Alessandro Petacchi show was shut down in the last 250 meters by a fast moving Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke. For McEwen it was a glorious day, celebrating his 6th victory in the Giro d'Italia, and taking the Maglia Rosa from Paolo Bettini. McEwen dedicated his win to his son, who turns 3 years old tomorrow.
Elbows and Shoulders
If you think sprinting is easy, then think again. Yesterday's stage 2 was a display of balance and handling on the part of the first 30 riders, particularly Jaan Kirsipuu, Robbie McEwen, Baden Cooke, and Alessandro Petacchi.
At 500m to go it was Julian Dean (CA, for Kirsipuu) and Alberto Ongarato (Fassa Bortolo, for Petacchi) sticking each other with elbows. Then at 350m it was Kirsipuu (CA) giving the heavy shoulder to Marco Velo (Fassa Bortolo), last lead-out man for Petacchi. All of this really disrupted the flow for Petacchi, and at 300m he was washed out by Cooke (FDJ) and McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto). A very exciting sprint.
Basque Rider Down
Stage 2 brought about some tough moments when at 47 K to go, Giro d'Italia spectators witnessed a scary crash involving Alberto Lopez de Munain (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who touched wheels with the rider in front of him. Lopez de Munain went down hard, hitting his head and back on the guardrail. Thankfully, overnight, doctors have confirmed it not to be serious after their first assessments. Alberto has been reported with a broken shoulder and left collarbone. BiciRace.com sends out our best wishes to Alberto.
Stage 3: Up and Down
Today's stage 3 will be a ball-buster of a stage. There are numerous little climbs that are sure to split the field and maybe a small group will stay away. It will be a rider like Di Luca to win, or maybe we will see Bettini take the pink jersey back. Realistically, both of these riders won't make it through the entire Giro d'Italia and you can bet they will give their all in these type of stages.
The Giro d'Italia is traveling in a northern direction, today from Diamante to Giffoni Valle Piana, a total of 205 K. The weather will be warm (20°C or 68°F) and partly cloudy as the riders depart at 12:00.
Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
The Dust Devil check's in with his daily views on the 2005 Giro d'Italia. "Well, today’s stage wasn't quite as exciting as I would hope for. But, heck! I was surprised again. I'm not normally a fan of McEwen..." Read the Dust Devil's Daily Wrap, Used and Discarded
Giro d'Italia Classifications
Maglia Rosa: Now it is in the hands of Robbie McEwen, after starting with Brett Lancaster and then to Paolo Bettini, we will maybe see McEwen lose the jersey today (stage 3).
Maglia Ciclamino: This early into the Giro d'Italia the jersey is often held by the leader on GC. In Stage 2 McEwen wore the purple jersey because the sprint point's leader, Bettini, was in the leader's Maglia Rosa. And likewise, today (stage 3) Petacchi wears the maglia Ciclamino because McEwen is in the Maglia Rosa. Standings: McEwen 45 points, Petacchi 30, Cooke 26
Maglia Verde: Thorwald Veneberg (Rabobank) has won the green climber's jersey for the last two stages. He snatched it in stage one when he was in a break away, going first over the only GPM climb. Stage 2 he gained enough points to hold on to the jersey, when he went second over the only categorized climb, behind Raffaele Illiano (Selle Italia-Colombia).
Intergiro: Held for the last 2 days by the big German, Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner). Both stage 1 and stage 2 he was in a break that enabled him to get to the Intergiro point first. So again, for stage 3, he will be sporting the cool blue Intergiro jersey, looking good with his Gerolsteiner kit.
Read the complete Giro d'Italia classification break-down.
Read BiciRace.com's pink pages for toe-to-knee coverage of the 88th Giro d'Italia...
Startlist, Classifications, Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
Key Stages, Stages and Maps, Overall Map
Photos
Rumors Run Wild!
Yesterday BiciRace.com reported that Alessandro Petacchi was on the hunt for a new team. With the break-up of Fassa Bortolo at the end of the year, Petacchi has been looking at an unformed Dutch team, Discovery Channel or Domina Vacanze. But now the rumor around the BiciRace.com office espresso machine is that Ale-Jet may be flying with Phonak next season. This is yet to be confirmed, but the inside scoop is that it will not happen. Petacchi really wants to renew with Giancarlo Ferretti with a new sponsor. Or, the other rumor flying about, is that he will go to Liquigas-Bianchi, but that Pinarello will take over bike sponsorship, Liquigas-Pinarello.
Jesper Skibby Cuts the Rug
After retiring, what does an ex-professional cyclist do with himself to occupy his time? It seems Jesper Skibby of Denmark has the answer to that question.
Skibby has apparently decided that dancing is just the activity he needed to fill the void left by professional cycling. He and a partner, who is a professional dancer, have been contestants on the Danish dance program, "Crazy About Dancing," for the last month.
"Crazy About Dancing" is a weekly show run every Saturday where couples compete and are given scores by a panel of judges. It seems Skibby is quite a horrific dancer, but his popularity in Denmark is such that he has been able to survive the lambasting he has received by the judges. In fact, almost a million viewers tuned in last week to see Skibby cut the rug, which is considerable given that the population of Denmark barely exceeds 5 million people.
Skibby shakes it all off saying, "It's not a program for professionals, it's only meant to be entertainment. If I didn't think it was fun, I would not have done it. I'm not giving up though, I'm working to improve."
- Paco
9 May News ...
Tom Danielson Interview, Before the Giro d'Italia, "We looked at Lance a lot for that stage. And if I was able to do it, then I was going to try to do it. Lance had a lot of faith in me, and kind of stressed me out a little bit..."
Joseba Beloki Interview, "I'm not a real attacking kind of rider, but to attack one needs to have both confidence and physical strength to spare."
He was often criticized by the nay-sayers for not getting over the big mountains. True, he never made it to Paris. But, he knows his talents. He got paid to win races and get publicity for his sponsors., "The End of an Era"
"Every sprint is always different. There are always things going through my mind. The main thing I do is stay concentrated on the job and trying to get in the best position possible!" - Allan Davis
Phil Zajicek ... "I've had a few problems with my health this year so being here and getting healthy and getting some quality training in has been great. Haven't dropped Heras, we were doing hill repeats on the same climb the other day though and I'm pretty sure I was going faster than him. Just kidding, he is tiny though!"
