The Story of the Giro d'Italia

by Carol McGann

  The new General Classification stood thus: 1. Francesco Casagrande

  2. Danilo Di Luca @ 51 seconds

  3. Andrea Noè @ 1 minute 39 seconds

  4. Stefano Garzelli @ same time

  5. Dario Frigo @ 1 minute 40 seconds

  It’s always something at the Giro. The Association of Italian Cycling Teams began a mini-strike of sorts. The riders refused to talk to the press or attend the podium presentations. They were demanding RCS Sport give the teams a share of the television and merchandising license fees. RCS said this could be discussed after the Giro was over and the teams agreed. I don’t think anything came of it.

  Forty-two kilometers of time trialing was enough to tighten up the Giro before the first rest day. Casagrande lost time to all of his challengers, and after a week and a half, the race was virtually a tie among the top six places.

  The General Classification: 1. Francesco Casagrande

  2. Wladimir Belli @ 4 seconds

  3. Pavel Tonkov @ 7 seconds

  4. Danilo Di Luca @ 10 seconds

  5. Jan Hruska @ 17 seconds

  6. Stefano Garzelli @ 22 seconds

  A sign that the high mountains had arrived was Mario Cipollini’s withdrawal from the race. He did not start stage thirteen with the Falzarego, Marmolada and Sella ascents looming; abandoning must have seemed easier than having his team beat up all the climbers.

  Part way up the Marmolada, after his gregari had done what they could to break the peloton, Casagrande snapped everyone’s neck with a hard acceleration. That was it for Tonkov. Then from the small lead group, Di Luca, who had been riding well beyond anyone’s expectations, came off. Casagrande and Garzelli hammered away at each other on the way up, spewing riders out the back.

  Over the top, Simoni got a gap on the others with José Luis Rubiera able to catch him on the descent. Rubiera won the two-up sprint in Selva Val Gardena, followed by Garzelli and Casagrande 31 seconds later. Casagrande now had a 31-second lead over Garzelli.

  Three more big ones, that’s what faced the riders in stage fourteen: the Mendola, Tonale, and the south face of the Gavia followed by a monster-gear rip down into Bormio. Things broke up badly on the ice-cold ascent of the Gavia, but it was the descent that really decided things, as the more skilled and powerful riders passed those who would rather not go soaring off the dangerous road. The Gavia doesn’t have many guardrails and there are times when the rider just has to gulp and hope his tires will hold.

  A group of four coalesced: Casagrande, Belli, Eddy Mazzoleni and stage winner Simoni. Frigo, Gotti and Garzelli chased hard, but they ran out of stage before they ran out of gap.

  The General Classification of this tight and exciting race stood thus: 1. Francesco Casagrande

  2. Stefano Garzelli @ 33 seconds

  3. Gilberto Simoni @ 57 seconds

  4. Wladimir Belli @ 1 minute 5 seconds

  5. Dario Frigo @ 1 minute 52 seconds

  The race came out of the high mountains and raced to Liguria. During these mostly easier stages, there were no serious challenges to Casagrande’s lead. But stage eighteen, heading north from Genoa, went right into the Piedmontese Alps with a hilltop finish at Pratonevoso. Di Luca, troubled with tendinitis, abandoned.

  The Giro was wearing on Casagrande as well. He no longer rode with the same impregnable authority he had shown in the first stages. That and the closeness of the standings meant the stolid-faced Casagrande was probably in for some rough handling.

  Midway up the final climb, a rejuvenated Tonkov was the first to cuff the maglia rosa. Simoni and Garzelli gave him a couple of kicks but Casagrande stuck around. Then Simoni attacked and when Garzelli closed up to him, he was without Casagrande. As the road flattened slightly, Casagrande dragged himself back up to the leaders. Garzelli, being a good sprinter, took the stage and the bonus seconds, putting him within 25 seconds of the lead. Simoni was still third, now at 53 seconds.

  No rest. Stage nineteen had the 2000 Cima Coppi, the Colle dell’Agnello, followed by the Izoard and an uphill finish in Briançon. The best riders separated themselves from the peloton on the Agnello and managed to stay away on the descent. One rider managed to join the leaders and was he a surprise! It was Marco Pantani. In the third week he had found his legs.

  As the Izoard started to bite, Simoni did a probe and found Tonkov didn’t have what he had the day before. Then Pantani went hard to get up to Simoni but Garzelli couldn’t hold his wheel. After the leaders came together, Pantani attacked again, marked by Simoni. Pantani relented and waited for Garzelli. Simoni kept banging away the entire way up the Izoard while Pantani did the job of bringing the others up to him. This entire distance maglia rosa Casagrande just watched without taking part in the fireworks, letting the others wear themselves out.

  On the descent before the climb into Briançon, as the big dogs watched and marked each other, Paolo Lanfranchi, a gifted gregario of Tonkov’s, took advantage of the slower pace to take a flyer. Further on Pantani gave chase. Too late. Lanfranchi won the stage; Pantani was an astonishing second and Simoni, Garzelli and Casagrande followed in at a minute. Garzelli said that he had hoped to conserve his energy as much as possible over this stage with the time trial coming the next day. Pantani had made sure everyone had worked hard.

  The race was too close to call: 1. Francesco Casagrande

  2. Stefano Garzelli @ 25 seconds

  3. Gilberto Simoni @ 49 seconds

  4. Pavel Tonkov @ 2 minutes 46 seconds

  5. Hernán Buenahora @ 3 minutes 50 seconds

  The penultimate stage was a 32-kilometer time trial going from Briançon up to Sestriere with the Montgenèvre mountain pass in between. Jan Hruska, who won the prologue, was also victorious in the final time trial. Garzelli rode a perfect race, coming in third. And Casagrande? He looked awful, losing 1 minute 52 seconds to Garzelli and therefore, the Giro d’Italia, and he nearly lost second place to Simoni. Casagrande, ranked the number-one rider in the world, looked to have burned himself up trying to ride with Merckx-style authority. In his defense, he said he was suffering from sciatica and felt he could have won the Giro if he had not been suffering from the nerve problem.

  Photo of Garzelli and Pantani

  Final 2000 Giro d’Italia General Classification: 1. Stefano Garzelli (Mercatone Uno-Albacom) 98 hours 30 minutes 14 seconds

  2. Francesco Casagrande (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec) @ 1 minute 27 seconds

  3. Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Daikin) @ 1 minute 33 seconds

  4. Andrea Noè (Mapei-Quick Step) @ 4 minutes 58 seconds

  5. Pavel Tonkov (Mapei-Quick Step) @ 5 minutes 28 seconds

  Climbers’ Competition: 1. Francesco Casagrande (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec): 71 points

  2. José Jaime González (Aguardiente Nectar-Selle Italia): 71

  3. Stefano Garzelli (Mercatone Uno-Albacom): 47

  Points Competition: 1. Dmitri Konyshev (Fassa Bortolo): 159 points

  2. Fabrizio Guidi (Française des Jeux): 119

  3. Ján Svorada (Lampre-Daikin): 116

  Garzelli, a fourth year pro, had won the Giro in his fourth attempt. So far his career hadn’t been spectacular, since he was primarily a gregario, but it did show the promise of what he could do. In 1997 he was ninth in the Giro, in 1998 he won the Tour of Switzerland and in 1999 he won the GP Miguel Induráin and was fourth in Milan–San Remo. His next challenge was to get a different nickname. During the Giro, to his chagrin, the press had begun calling him “the Little Pirate” (il Piratino).

  With the Giro under his belt, Pantani had the beginnings of some of his old racing form and went on to enter the Tour de France, giving Lance Armstrong fits before retiring with stomach troubles. In December, as a result of the Turin hospital investigation, he was found guilty of sporting fraud and was given a suspended sentence wh
ich was later reversed because it was found that the law did not apply in Pantani’s case. Meanwhile his cocaine use and the investigation into his ejection from the 1999 Giro continued.

  Oh, and about that green Climber’s Jersey Casagrande took home. On the last day González was leading in the Mountains classification. Then, after some complicated explanations, Casagrande was awarded the maximum possible points for the climb in the final time trial and with that, was given the Green Jersey. The Colombians of González’s Aguardiente-Nectar team were outraged at the dubious calculations.

  2001. In April a urine test for EPO was finally approved. So far the closest officials could come to dealing with EPO was the 50 percent hematocrit threshold, which tripped up Pantani in 1999 as well as teammate Riccardo Forconi in the penultimate stage of the 1998 Giro. CSC rider Bo Hamburger had the honor of being the first rider caught with the new test. The racers quickly learned that by taking daily micro-doses of EPO instead of a few large injections, they could lower the peak quantity of the drug in their systems below the detectable threshold and continue to evade the controls. Hence, few EPO positives occurred, allowing the officials and promoters to claim that the drug problem had been licked. Not by a long shot. Meanwhile, another Pantani investigation was opened, this one in Florence, looking into Pantani’s unusual blood values leading up to his participation in the 2000 Olympics. Pantani’s EPO and other drug use were known by the Olympic team selectors, but it was papered over. The man was too valuable to be allowed to remain off his bike, doped or not.

  At 3,364 kilometers, the 84th Giro presented more opportunities to the sprinters with eleven stages that were either flat or rolling. The total amount of climbing was lower and included just three hilltop finishes. Time trialing was also down, at 63 kilometers compared to 83 and 77 in the two previous Giri.

  When the route was presented, both Felice Gimondi and Marco Pantani thought the route was particularly suited for Jan Ullrich, Gimondi going so far as to say the route might have been designed to entice the talented German passista (a rider who can turn a big gear over flat roads) to ride the Giro. Indeed, Ullrich and his Telekom team did enter, but he had again let his form lapse badly over the winter and was at the Giro solely for training.

  Francesco Casagrande was the number one favorite, having just come off a win in the Giro del Trentino (Pantani was 29th). Next on the list was Dario Frigo, winner of Paris–Nice and the Tour of Romandie.

  2000 winner Garzelli was sure that if he stayed with Mercatone Uno he would be reduced to being a gregario for Pantani again so he jumped to Mapei, which was probably the most powerful squad in cycling at the time. Simoni, third in the last two Giri, won a stage in the Tour of Romandie and was ready to race.

  And of course, one must always include the unpredictable Marco Pantani. His team director, Giuseppe Martinelli, said that Pantani’s last workouts showed sparks of real lightning. Alfredo Martini, the manager of the Italian National Team, also thought Pantani should be considered the favorite.

  Celestino Vercelli, one of Pantani’s sponsors and a friend, visited him two weeks before the Giro start and found him full of a desire to get even for the many past humiliations to which he had been subjected. Pantani said to him, “This is a very important test. I have the possibility to demonstrate to all, adversaries, critics, public, that Pantani ‘is’. In the next Giro I will begin, maybe with suffering. But, I am sure that all my preparatory work will bear fruit—I will race against myself.”

  The first order of business was the 7.6-kilometer prologue held in the Abruzzo city of Pescara, on the Adriatic coast. Belgian Rik Verbrugghe thumped a gigantic 55 x 11 gear over the dead-flat course at a wind-aided 58.874 kilometers per hour, the fastest-ever Grand Tour individual time trial at the time. Not much slower at 8 seconds was Dario Frigo.

  Stage one’s trip over the wet, twisty roads of the Abruzzo saw several crashes, including one involving Casagrande, who broke his wrist. His Giro was over before it had really started. On the final climb of the day, a split in the field occurred and Garzelli and Savoldelli were caught out and both lost 37 seconds.

  By stage three, the Giro had reached its southernmost point when it finished in Potenza in the Basilicata region. This is a wild and mountainous area and the day’s challenging profile bore that out. When maglia rosa Verbrugghe crashed, Mercatone Uno had been hammering away at the front, making it difficult for Verbrugghe to regain the peloton. Showing slightly enlightened self-interest, Cipollini sent word up to the front that they should slow until the race leader had rejoined the field. The slower pace allowed the sprinters to stay with the peloton and Verbrugghe remained in pink.

  Over to the coast, through Salerno and back into the hills for a hilltop finish at Montevergine di Mercogliano, the riders faced their first real test in stage four. Verbrugghe and Savoldelli were among the many other riders who couldn’t keep their bikes upright on the wet streets. Verbrugghe’s stage three fall had left him too sore and tired to follow the Classification riders as they raced up the hill while Savoldelli had a flat and couldn’t get back on, costing him two and a half minutes.

  The Montevergine’s final selection was Di Luca, Simoni and Garzelli with Frigo chasing three seconds back. Di Luca took the stage and Frigo took the lead. Ullrich lost over eight minutes in that stage alone.

  The General Classification stood thus: 1. Dario Frigo

  2. Abraham Olano @ 12 seconds

  3. Gilberto Simoni @ 13 seconds

  4. Wladimir Belli @ 17 seconds

  The next three stages headed north to Tuscany. They were typical Giro piano stages with their insanely fast final hour, all won in big sprint finishes and with no effect upon the Classification. The Giro’s former style of riding at a more relaxed pace during a stage’s first hours was not because the Italians were a bunch of lazy athletes. Professional cycling is a business and the tifosi have to wait by the side of the road, sometimes for hours, for their heroes to come whooshing by. The easier pace allowed the fans to get a good look at the riders while the sponsors were glad of the chance to allow the millions of roadside spectators to better inspect the riders’ bikes and the logos on their jerseys.

  Stage eight presented an interruption to the sprinters’ show with a trip from the spa town of Montecatini Terme over the Apennines to Reggio Emilia on the Po River plain. The day’s hilly roads almost shouted for a break to go, and one did get away, almost at the start of the stage. Early on there were fifteen escapees, but as the break went over one mountain after another, it spit out one rider after another. At the finish, the initiator of the break, Pietro Caucchioli, rolled in alone. Frigo and his Fassa Bortolo team lost control of the chase and a small group of dangerous riders slipped away in a hard-fought, big-gear downhill race for the line. José Azevedo was one of these adventurers and the day’s plundering brought him to within 3 seconds of the lead.

  The next day Cipollini got his second stage win of the year bringing his total to 32, passing Costante Girardengo’s 30 and Learco Guerra’s 31. Only Alfredo Binda, at 41, had more.

  Gilberto Simoni was an alert, sharp racer. When Matteo Tosatto went for a stage win with three kilometers to go on a short hill in stage twelve, Simoni made sure he was part of the party. Tosatto won the stage but Simoni’s third place was good for a little time bonus. Plus, the pack didn’t cross the line in Montebelluna for another 10 crucial seconds. Now Frigo could really feel hot breath on his neck. Simoni, the real stage race deal, was only one second behind.

  Into the Dolomites! Stage thirteen started with the Passo Rolle, followed by the Pordoi, the Marmolada and then a second trip up the Pordoi, where the stage ended. On the Marmolada several good riders saw their Giro chances fade. Simoni’s Lampre gregari set a hot pace up the hill, tossing Garzelli, Di Luca, Pantani and Azevedo, among others. On the Pordoi it was just Simoni and Julio Pérez-Cuapio working together, making for a lean, mean climbing machine
. Simoni was happy for the help and eased slightly to let Pérez-Cuapio take the stage. Frigo gave chase, but he was in Simoni’s cherished mountains and had to concede 45 seconds and the lead.

  Now the standings were thus: 1. Gilberto Simoni

  2. Dario Frigo @ 48 seconds

  3. Wladimir Belli @ 1 minute 27 seconds

  4. Unai Osa @ 1 minute 52 seconds

  5. Ivan Gotti @ 2 minutes 14 seconds

  That evening the Financial Police searched the van of Ivan Gotti’s parents, presumably looking for dope, but no contraband was found. The racers should have taken this as another warning shot over their bow.

  Stage fourteen had two major ascents, Monte Bondone and the Santa Barbara followed by a seventeen-kilometer downhill roll to the finish in Arco. The pack had no real interest in racing until the slopes of the Santa Barbara were reached, allowing a rather large group of about 50 to begin the climb together. Simoni’s Lampre team again thinned the herd, dropping most of the peloton after just a few kilometers.

  Simoni had a fan club of particularly rabid tifosi who wore T-shirts proclaiming that they were “Simoni Hooligans”. As the leading riders climbed up the Santa Barbara passing through the narrow defile of spectators, one of Simoni’s Hooligans got too close to Wladimir Belli. Belli, feeling threatened, hit the fan squarely in the nose.

  Simoni couldn’t distance himself from Frigo, Belli, Buenahora and stage winner Carlos Contreras but the rest of the pack lost still more time.

  That evening, after hearing from Belli’s team director, the officials still didn’t think much of Belli’s smacking the fan’s nose. Even though he was sitting in third place, Belli was ejected from the Giro.

  Garzelli, suffering from bronchitis, lost gobs of time. His team, not seeing any chance of an immediate recovery, pulled him rather than race him into the ground.