BiciRace.com :: News :: October 2005

News :: October 2005

13 October 2005

After Ghisallo for Gilberto Simoni

Santuario della Madonna del Ghisallo, photo: BiciRace.com

Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) is ready to fire the missiles in Saturday's Giro di Lombardia. Yesterday he spent 130K behind a scooter and today he will ride the last 50K of the course. Simoni is convinced of his chances for his last race of the season.

"I don't think that the key point will be Ghisallo, the course will be decided after the climb," said Simoni. The famed ascent of Madonna del Ghisallo tops out with 45K remaining to Como. Along the way there are the final two smaller climbs: Civiglio (15.7K) and San Fermo della Battaglia (5.7K to go). "The course will be decided on San Fermo." (See the race profile.)

Gibo considers Mirko Celestino (Domina Vacanze) and Paolo Bettini (Quick-Step) as the firm favorites. He is thoroughly impressed with Bettini's win two weeks ago in the Züri Metzgete. And Gibo personally witnessed the strength of Celestino in last week's Giro dell'Emilia. There the two battled for the win on the climb of Santuario di San Luca.

Of course there is a possible challenger within Simoni's own team: Damiano Cunego. The Lampre-Caffita team DS, Beppe Martinelli, has said that Cunego will ride in the service of Simoni. The Piccolo Principe won Lombardia last year, and Simoni believes that he should be given the freedom to make his own race. So yes, this will be just like a mini-Giro d'Italia, where the two rode their own races. Oh, this will be interesting!

la Squadra Giro di Lombardia:
Gilberto Simoni
Damiano Cunego
Alessandro Ballan
Marco Marzano
Gorazd Stangelj
Sylvester Szmyd
Andrea Tonti
Patxi Vila

Read: Martinelli takes Cunego and Simoni to Lombardia, 9 October

Saul Raisin for Lombardia

Saul at Tour de Suisse, photo: Raisin

BiciRace.com is pulling hard for the Piccolo Americano, Saul Raisin, in this Saturday's Giro di Lombardia. We talked with the Crédit Agricole rider last week and he was in good spirits for the race. Raisin said that he 'was upset about missing out on the move in Zurich' but that he is 'highly motivated for Lombardia'. Don't discount this first year pro, he had a great Deutschland Tour, won the mountains jersey in Tour de l'Avenir (which he said that 'not too many people knew about') and made a strong showing in the World Championships. We think he has a good chance for victory, and we will check in with Paolo tomorrow morning to ask what sort of odds he will give on the Piccolo Americano. Stay tuned.

Squadra for Saturday:
Francesco Bellotti
Alexandre Botcharov
Eric Leblacher
Benoît Poilvet
Sébastien Portal
Saul Raisin
Yannick Talabardon
Nicolas Vogondy

Read: Saul Raisin Takes Polka-Dot, 9 September

99th Giro di Lombardia:
Main Page
Overall Map, Profile
Startlist
Photos
Report and Results

2006 Giro d'Italia Welcomes Jan Ullrich

Jan Ullrich, 1997 Tour de France Champion, will probably be on the start line for the 2006 Giro d'Italia. It would be a smart move for both Ullrich and the Giro organizers, given that the race will likely pass through (or near) Germany after its start in Belgium. 2001 was when the German last appeared in the Giro and the tifosi loved it. Of course right now this is only speculation but Rudy Pevenage, T-Mobile DS, points to the success of Ivan Basso, who successfully rode both the Giro and Tour this year.

Read:
The 89th Giro d'Italia Takes Shape, 30 September
Palermo for the 90th Giro d'Italia, 5 August
2006 Giro d'Italia to Start in Belgium, 20 July

Milram Gets Zabel At The Line

Today in Bergamo, Italy Erik Zabel officially signed on the line for Milram, the new Italian-German team. The 35 year-old rider from Berlin has finished a 13 year stint at the pink team of T-Mobile, the team which he gave his last win to last Sunday in Paris-Tours. The new squadra, Milram, comes from the fusion of the teams Domina Vacanze (Italy) and Team Wiesenhof (Germany). So far there have been 29 riders to agree to ride for the new ProTour team, 20 Italian and 9 German. The squadra will be managed by Gianluigi Stanga and Gerrie Van Gerwen.

Read:
Signor Consistent: Erik Zabel, 10 October
Last Race for Zabel with T-Mobile, 9 October
Transfer Mania, 4 October
Zabel and Domina Vacanze-Nordmilch, 23 August

12 October News ...