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4 May 2006

5 May News ...

Signor 7X at Giro d'Italia

Lance Armstrong, retired cyclist and seven-time winner of the Tour de France, is visiting his Disco squadra in Belgium for the start of the 2006 Giro d'Italia. L'Americano, who still has a paid role in the Discovery Channel formation, will join Direttore Sportivo Johan Bruyneel to support the team for the opening stages.

BiciRace.com is happy to see our Texas friend at one of cycling's most prestigious races. Although he is not as glamorous as Mario Cipollini, his presence adds even more panache to an already beautiful race.

Gibo's Squadra Gialla

The yellow Saunier Duval-Prodir squadra is preparing to race the 2006 Giro d'Italia, one of the team's major objectives for the season. Yesterday the Spanish-Swiss formation named the riders that will back Gilberto Simoni in his quest for Maglia Rosa number three. It is a strong line-up that BiciRace.com likes, with our friend Pino and l'Americano, Olson.

Complete Squadra Gialla: Gilberto Simoni, Guido Trentin, Manuele Mori, Marco Pinotti, Ángel Gómez Gómez (or "Litu"), Aaron Olson (l'Americano), Piotr Mazur, Leonardo Piepoli and Rubén Lobato. The team will gather in Belgium today for the final preparations and the official presentation.

Liberty in Liège

Yesterday Liberty Seguros-Würth arrived in Liège, where il Giro d'Italia will start in two days, to familiarize themselves with the roads of the Wallonne region. Marino Lejarreta, Liberty Team Manager for the Giro, points out three riders for GC: "Scarponi, Osa and Caruso have the challenge of fighting for a place in the podium."

"The team has a bit of everything: young riders and others with experience," continued Lejarreta on the Spanish squadra. "We do not have a clear leader to dispute the final victory, but on the other hand we have several riders with possibilities. For Scarponi, Unai Osa and Caruso it is the number one goal to fight for a place on the podium. It will be complicated, but they have a lot of ambitions."

"The Giro is marked with terribly hard mountains in the last week. In general it is a race made for climbers, though the time trials are not, maybe they will compensate a bit. And there are only a few stages for sprinters, an abnormal thing in the Giro. It will be an interesting race, open enough, and in which the escapes will be important."

"It is necessary to name Basso, Cunego, Simoni, Di Luca or Savoldelli," pointed out Lejarreta when we asked him to name his favorites. "But they are the candidates at the start, because there is no doubt that with a third week so hard there will be many surprises. Like last year, it seemed that Basso would win easily, this year we will see lots of explosions. Until the end it will not be possible to say the one who will win, except if the weather is bad enough and we do not ride any of these stages."

Liberty Squadra: Dariusz Baranowski, Koen De Kort, Javier Ramírez, Daniel Navarro, Michele Scarponi, Marcos Serrano, Giampaolo Caruso, Serguei Yakovlev and Unai Osa.

Squadra Basque for Corsa Rosa

The Basque squadra that we all love so much, Euskaltel-Euskadi, is in Belgium and ready for the start of the 89th Corsa Rosa. The boys will surely add some spice to the race... Well, OK, they have too! Results are slim for 2006 and this will motivate the team to ride an aggressive race.

The orange squadra is composed of veterans Roberto Laiseka and Iker Flores, combined with youthful strength: David López García, Markel Irizar, Koldo Fernández, Anton Luengo, Andoni Aranaga, Ivan Mayoz and Beñat Albizuri. All Basque and all strong. Italians be warned!

89th Giro d'Italia, 6 - 28 May
Main, Startlist, Classifications, Giro Favorites
Stages and Maps, Key Stages, Overall Map
Photos, The Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
2005 Giro d'Italia

3 May News ...