BiciRace.com :: 2006 Giro del Trentino

2006 Giro del Trentino, Stage 2

Giro del Trentino, Italy

Stage 2, Castello Tesino - Cles, 174.8K

19 April

Cunego Wins Battle Against Simoni

Cunego Blasts Simoni and takes GC, photo: Lampre-Fondital

The Giro d'Italia heads of state battled on the streets of Cles in stage 2 of the Giro del Trentino: Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni traded punches, with il Veronese of Lampre-Fondital swiping the win. It was the fourth win of the season for 24 year-old Cunego, who now takes the leader's jersey. After yesterday's crash, the tifosi were relieved to see a strong Simoni in combat with his old teammate. 17 days until the Giro d'Italia!

Today the riders faced 174K, from Castello Tesino to Cles, mostly down before the 15K kick up to the Forcella di Brez at 1397m, leaving 40K to the finish. Two riders marked the day's major move before the slopes of Brez reared its head, Alessandro Bertolini (Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni) and Maurizio Carta (Miche). The duo worked up a maximum advantage of 4'43" before the fireworks went off.

Cunego attacked on the climb, spreading the gruppo thin, before his chain skipped and ruined his momentum. Luca Mazzanti (Panaria-Navigare), yesterday's stage winner and GC leader, was gapped on the Forcella di Brez but did a solid descent to rejoin.

Cunego with Trentino Podium Girls, photo: Lampre-Fondital

Under 15K to go Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) let loose with an attack. Bandaged from yesterday's crash, the curly-haired gassy rider was brought back under control by the Cunego crew. The Lampre-Fondital squadra was setting up for a coup that would give their leader stage glory and the GC lead (with a 10" time bonus for the win).

On the slight uphill rise to Cles, Paolo Tiralongo, followed by Sylvester Szmyd, led-out for Il Piccolo Principe. On the wheel of Cunego, was his old teammate from last year, Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval-Prodir). Gibo, though winless in 2006, seems to have found his form for la Corsa Rosa. But surely il Trentino will want to strike blood tomorrow or the following stage, to seek revenge on his former gregario.

Results: 4:28'46"
1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 2 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 Andrea Tonti (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 4 Eddy Ratti (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 5 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 6 Tomaz Nose (Slo) Adria Mobil 7 Przemyslaw Niemec (Pol) Miche 8 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital 9 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 10 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguel (Spa) 11 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 12 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano 13 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 14 Dario Cioni (Ita) Liquigas 15 Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 16 José Rujano (Ven) Selle 17 Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukr) Tenax-Salmilano 18 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Barloworld 19 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Team LPR 20 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Acqua & Sapone 21 Miha Svab (Slo) Adria Mobil 22 Marco Osella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-3C 23 Miguel Rubiano Chávez 24 Santo Anzà' (Ita) Selle 25 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas

Comunidad Valenciana
0.14
0.24

Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni
0.37

Casalinghi 0.44
(Col) Panaria-Navigare 1.45
Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 2.05
4.36

GC:
1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 8:37'09"
2 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 0.04
3 Eddy Ratti (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 0.08
4 Andrea Tonti (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 0.10
5 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 0.14
6 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital 0.22
7 Przemyslaw Niemec (Pol) Miche 0.27
8 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.37
9 Tomaz Nose (Slo) Adria Mobil 0.43
10 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
11 José Rujano (Ven) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 0.53
12 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 0.57
13 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 1.51
14 Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare
15 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Team LPR 2.04
16 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Barloworld
17 Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukr) Tenax-Salmilano 2.09
18 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Acqua & Sapone
19 Marco Osella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi 2.16
20 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano 2.30
21 Dario Cioni (Ita) Liquigas
22 Santo Anzà (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 3.37
23 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 5.12
24 Miguel Rubiano Chávez (Col) Panaria-Navigare 5.14
25 Pedro Arreitunandia (Spa) Barloworld 5.19