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News :: May 2005

13 May 2005

14 May News ...

Stefano Garzelli, A Stage Race Champion with Style

Stefano Garzelli before 2005 Giro d'Italia, photo: Garzelli.com

Stefano Garzelli is a classy rider. He is a man of stage racing, winning stages in Tour de Romandie, Pais Vasco, Tour of Switzerland, Giro d'Italia, to name a few tours. Above all, Stefano is known for taking overall honors in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, when he went from domestique to leader, on the team of Marco Pantani. Since the days at Mercatone Uno, Mapei, and Vini Caldirola, Stefano has really come into his own. Now with the newly formed super-squadra Liquigas-Bianchi, he is among some strong friends. Join BiciRace.com as we get down to the details, from Stefano's bikes, to his beloved pizza.

BiciRace.com: Ciao Stefano, thanks for taking time out of preparing for the Giro d'Italia to answer some BiciRace.com questions. This year you are with a new squadra. What is the atmosphere like in the Liquigas-Bianchi team?
Stefano Garzelli: The atmosphere is very good. Thanks to the results obtained by Pellizotti and Di Luca at the beginning of the season, we are able to be more relaxed as we face the Giro.
Read more of the BiciRace.com interview with Stefano Garzelli.

Di Luca at Home in Pink

Di Luca In Pink, photo: Graham Watson, Saunier Duval

After yesterday's stage 5, Danilo Di Luca, already the leader of the ProTour, traded his white ProTour jersey for one of pink. It was a dream come true, to take a Giro d'Italia stage and the Maglia Rosa on home soil, just south of his home town. "I am happy, I have reached my planned objective."

It was a tough day, on a tough course over 3 categorized climbs. A stage where a sizable group of contenders got away, including the Tuscan Terror, Paolo Bettini. The move containing Bettini, in the maglia rosa, was a solid move. It was not contained until after the final GPM of Monte Urano when Liquigas-Bianchi came into action for Di Luca.

Di Luca was very thankful of his green-team and acknowledged the win for the them. "I dreamt to win the stage, but did not believe also to obtain the maglia rosa. I should thank the Liquigas-Bianchi, today they did big work for me, and from the beginning of the year they believed in my possibilities, treating me as a leader. They deserve their repay with these results."

Giro d'Italia Classifications

Maglia Rosa: In stage 5 Di Luca has come up good in the first real mountainous test of this year's Giro. And in so doing, has also ripped the maglia rosa off the shoulders of compatriot, Paolo Bettini. Bettini and Luca Mazzanti follow pretty boy Di Luca in second and third places.
Maglia Ciclamino: Here again Di Luca can do no wrong. He's got this jersey locked in for now ahead of Bettini and McEwen. By default, Bettini will get to wear the ciclamino, but it will give him no satisfaction since the only reason he's in it is because Di Luca is in pink.
Maglia Verde: To justify their wildcard invitation to the Giro, little known Josè Rujano Guillen of Venezuela (Selle Italia-Colombia) leapt out of the pack on a solo escapade over the steep slopes of Monte Urano. By doing so Guillen scooped up maximum points in the climbers competition. Koldo Gil (Liberty Seguros) was hot on his trail and also got some points for himself. Guillen now leads this jersey ahead of Gil and Dario Cioni (Liquigas-Bianchi).
Maglia Azzurra (Intergiro): Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner) is still seeing blue. Bettini's consistency saw him move into second for this competition. Stefano Zanini dropped a place into third.
Read the complete Giro d'Italia classification break-down.
- Paco

Maglia Verde Too Busy For Planting Coffee

José Rujano Guillen (Selle Italia-Colombia), 23 years old, won the Maglia Verde yesterday in stage 5. José, from Venezuela, spent his days planting coffee before his days of receiving podium kisses. José was the fastest in his town, planting 5000 plants a day! BiciRace.com has a new hero, good luck to José Rujano Guillen in this years Giro d'Italia.

Stage 6, A Day for Sprinters?

Any race fan would look at today's stage 6 profile and say it would be a day for the big sprint-guns. But who really knows with this Giro d'Italia? We have witnessed some exciting racing so far and today might just provide something more than a textbook sprint.

The riders are traveling 153K, entering into Toscana. Bettini would kill to be back into the pink jersey, and he will have his Quick-Step boys working hard as he enters his home region. The riders finish on the west coast in Marina Di Grosseto, doing 3 circuits of 6K.

The weather forecast is great, 23°C (73°F) with some clouds. It should be a perfect day for the riders as they tackle first section of the stage, which includes a GPM (93K) with 60K to go.

Marco Pinotti, A Day with Vasseur in the Giro d'Italia

Marco Pinotti, photo: Matteo Algeri

Marco Pinotti (Saunier Duval - Prodir) spent a long stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia in a break-away with Cèdric Vasseur. Read BiciRace.com's Inside Scoop regarding what Marco has to say about that day, and also his upcoming TT chances.
Inside Scoop from Marco Pinotti

Dust Devil's Daily Wrap

The Dust Devil gives his thoughts on a strong Liquigas-Bianchi team and the arrival of "The Killer". "I have to say the Liquigas-Bianchi team looks absolutely rabid so far! If I was on one of the other teams, the boys in green would have the fear of God in me." Read the Dust Devil's Daily Wrap, All Hail The Killer

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

Valverde for Vuelta a España?

Much to the chagrin of Vuelta a España race organizers, Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) has indicated yesterday to Efe Radio that he'll not be contesting his home tour if he has a good performance in the Tour de France. This comes as a surprise to many since the Vuelta would be ideal training for the World Championships, which will take place in Madrid. Valverde will be one of several major players for the Spanish squad in that race.

Valverde indicated that he'll be going to the Tour de France to learn from his more experienced teammate, Francisco Mancebo. "I see Ullrich, Mayo, Cunego, Basso as all possible winners and Mancebo on the podium. He [Mancebo] is going easy now, but he'll arrive at a very high level," declared Valverde.
- Paco

The Body of Cipollini up for Auction

The pink skinsuit that was worn by Mario Cipollini in last Saturday's Giro d'Italia prologue is being auctioned off. The auction is on ebay.it, and the funds go to raise money for cancer research, AIRC.it

Specialized in Italy

Mike Sinyard, founder of Specialized Bicycles, is traveling along with the Giro d'Italia. For the next three stages Sinyard will ride the same route as the racers. This is an annual tradition for the Specialized founder.

12 May News ...

Chat with the Director Sportivo, "Very beautiful and "rigida"( how do you say in English?)"

Pedro Delgado Interview - "In my opinion, of the directors I know, I like Vicente Belda the most."

Robbie McEwen in Pink after stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia

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!"