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Giro d'Italia, Italy

Rest Day 1, Ravenna

17 May

Stages 1 to 9, A Review

Stage List, Photos

Pink for Cipollini and Lancaster

At the Prologue in Reggio Calabria, the toe of Italy, it was Brett Lancaster who hammered home fastest, wearing the first Maglia Rosa. Lancaster is an Olympic gold medalist in the team pursuit at Athens and world champion in the same speciality in 2002, and in 2003 setting the world record. The young Australian, 25 years, took the first leader's jersey.

Stage One, Fassa Loses

The first road stage of the Giro d'Italia provided huge excitement when the Olympic champion, Paolo Bettini (Quick-Step), took both the stage win in Tropea and the leader's pink jersey. Both McEwen and Petacchi tried to stop "il grillo" but did not succeed. The stage ended on an unusually technical downhill turned-to-uphill finish, and it was too much for Fassa to control. Bettini delivered; he was the man of the day! He drove hard with 500 meters to go, and created a large gap right away. Bettini was certainly pleased while Petacchi looked to the future.

McEwen Wins Stage and Maglia Rosa

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.

Di Luca and Liquigas-Bianchi Open the Throttle

Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi), leader of the ProTour and winner of Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne, added a stage 3 win to the year's palmarès. After 205K he nipped Damiano Cunego, 2004 Giro d'Italia winner, at the line. Trailed in by teammate Garzelli, then Celestino and Ventoso. Paolo Bettini, finished sixth and kept close to Di Luca to take the maglia rosa, since McEwen, together with Petacchi, arrived a minute too late.

Bettini Relegated, Cooke Crashes, Mazzanti Wins

It was quite a finish for the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia into Frosinone. Paolo Bettini, in the maglia rosa, was relegated to fourth place after some "irregular" sprinting. The result of the relegation gave Luca Mazzanti, who crossed the line 2nd to Bettini, the stage win.

"It's pretty clear, I was in the middle of the road and he [Bettini] pushed me toward the barrier. The television can see what happened," Cooke was unhurt but pissed. When Bettini tried to shake hands with the Australian, Cooke refused and kept his cool in front of the surrounded press. The judges stripped Bettini of the stage but did not issue a time penalty that would have put Danilo Di Luca in the maglia rosa.

Di Luca at Home in Pink

After 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, highlighted by an early move containing Bettini, in the maglia rosa. It was a move that must have helped Di Luca in the end. It was Bettini out of pink and Di Luca in command at the finish.

McEwen Makes Two, Fassa Derails

Stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia was supposed to be the day for Alessandro Petacchi, but with 3K to go the Fassa Train was derailed. Petacchi's lead-out, Marzio Bruseghin, overshot a corner and took the Fassa Train with him. Robbie McEwen and Henk Vogels seized the opportunity and made a sweet win for McEwen and Davitamon-Lotto. Beating out the solid sprinters: Erik Zabel, Stuart O'Grady and Jaan Kirsipuu. For the Tuscan Terror it was back into the pink jersey after gaining enough time bonuses from the Intergiro sprint.

Koldo Gil Wins Tough Stage

After 190K away, Koldo Gil (Liberty Seguros-Würth) won the 7th stage of the Giro d'Italia into Pistoia, arms in the air and enjoying the moment. Gil from Pamplona, the homeland of Miguel Indurain, rode just like the former Giro d'Italia champion, with style. Gil, 26 years old, obtained and his 4th career victory.

Stage 7 was quite a day for the GC teams. Damiano Cunego, Gilberto Simoni (both Lampre-Caffita), and Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) gained 50 seconds on the other GC rivals. Basso had some bike and team problems, on the early slopes of Sammommè, that attributed to his tough day. The Liquigas-Bianchi squadra looked strong again, but missed out when the Lampre-Caffita boys topped the Sammommè. Stefano Garzelli and Dario Cioni were working hard to bring back their rivals, so much so that Garzelli went down hard on the run-in.

l'americano Gets Giro Stage Win

Adding to Andy Hampsten, Greg LeMond and Ron Keifel, Fred Rodriguez and Tyler Hamilton before him, David Zabriskie put his name down as one of the few Americans to score a stage victory in the Giro d'Italia. Of note is that when Tyler Hamilton won his stage, it was also a TT. Further, Tyler was on Team CSC at the time and guided by super Bjarne Riis.

Zabriskie's Team CSC stole the big show on the big day, stage 8. In the much anticipated TT, from Lamporecchio to Firenze, Zabriskie did not get any TV time, except when he was on the podium, because he was in the first 15 to leave the start house. It was an amazing ride by Zabriskie, and also his teammate, Ivan Basso. Basso finished 2nd on the stage, but more importantly he put time chunks into his key rivals.

It was a hard day in the Toscana sun for the boys of Lampre-Caffita. Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni lost a good portion of time to their adversaries, Savoldelli and Basso.

Petacchi Gets Win Before Resting

It had been a long time since Milano-Sanremo, nearly two months, and in stage 9 we again had a winning Alessandro Petacchi. The blue and white cement boys set a blistering pace into Ravenna, wanting to wash away the disappointments of the first week. Ravenna was the ideal place for a Fassa Bortolo win, near the home town of iron-fist, Giancarlo Ferretti. Ale-jet flew ahead of Erik Zabel and Robbie "McJet" McEwen with ease.

Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) was able to stay in the maglia rosa for another day, and looks set to keep it until the end of Thursdays's stage 11. After a rest day, and then stage 10 is flat as a pancake.

GC after 9 stages:
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 39:22'19"
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 0.09
3 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 0.35
4 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 1.15
5 Dario Cioni (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 1.27
6 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 1.35
7 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1.38
8 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze 1.39
9 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.10
10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 2.11
11 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears 2.24
12 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick-Step 2.25
13 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Würth 2.28
14 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 3.09
15 Juan Manuel Gárate (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3.18
16 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Domina Vacanze 3.21
17 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 3.24
18 Andrea Noè (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 3.37
19 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 3.44
20 Aitor González (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.48

Points
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 92
2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 91
3 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick-Step 91
4 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 62
5 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 59
6 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 52
7 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Domina Vacanze 48
8 Isaac Gálvez (Spa) Illes Balears 43
9 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 42
10 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 40

Mountains
1 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 21
2 José Rujano (Ven) Selle Italia-Colombia 16
3 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 7
4 Marco Fertonani (Ita) Domina Vacanze 6
5 Dario Cioni (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 5

Intergiro
1 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 21.01.01
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick-Step 0.46
3 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Quick-Step 0.50
4 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 1.24
5 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros-Würth 1.28

Most combative
1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick-Step 29
2 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 22
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 20
4 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 18
5 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 16