The Story of the Giro d'Italia

by Carol McGann

  With the transfer back to the mainland after stage three, the logistics of the Garibaldi celebration infuriated the riders and their teams’ support staff. The pre-race presentation on the aircraft carrier had turned out to be a hot, tiring day in the sun. The badly handled journey to the mainland caused some riders to get their bikes too late to take a training ride on the rest day that came after stage three. A day without riding in the middle of a stage race can make a rider’s legs go blocky and powerless.

  Stage four, starting in Salerno was the first stage to really offer any insight into the Giro contenders’ form. After following the Amalfi Road around the Sorrento peninsula, the route headed inland to end with a finish at the top of Montevergine di Mercogliano. The stage started out at a leisurely pace, but half way through, a light rain started, making the well-used oily road as slippery as ice. A mass crash was the result, leaving many of the riders, including Di Luca and the once-again maglia rosa Gasparotto, bruised and some with broken bikes. The easy pace continued a bit longer, allowing the pack to re-group. Up front, Saunier Duval began to drive the pace hard, looking for a stage win for Riccardo Riccò.

  As the final climb began, Liquigas displayed its power by running a perfect leadout train and sending off Danilo Di Luca for the stage win and the Pink Jersey with Riccò just off his wheel. The other contenders who tried to stay with Di Luca all agreed that at that moment, Di Luca was the best. Cunego said that he expected to have his full form in the third week and Simoni complained the stage left him exhausted. After his well-executed ride Di Luca said he had no intention of wasting any energy defending the jersey.

  The General Classification after stage four. The first four riders are members of Di Luca’s Liquigas team: 1. Danilo Di Luca

  2. Franco Pellizotti @ 26 seconds

  3. Andrea Noè @ 35 seconds

  4. Vincenzo Nibali @ same time

  5. Andy Schleck @ 53 seconds

  Stage six gave Di Luca what he was looking for, a rider on a strong team (to keep escapes and attacks under control) who would keep his Pink Jersey warm, but would reliably suffer in the high mountains and return the cherished garment at the proper time.

  It was an undulating stage that took the riders to Spoleto in the heart of hilly Umbria, tailor-made for a group of riders to ride away from a disinterested pack. A break of non-contenders dutifully escaped and Liquigas maintained a pace intended to let them go. Two riders survived to the end and divided the spoils. Luis Felipe Laverde took the stage win and Marco Pinotti of the T-Mobile squad, who didn’t contest the sprint, got the Pink Jersey. Pinotti figured he would be able to ride in pink until the end of stage ten.

  Stage eight, a trip over the Apennines via the Futa Pass into Emilia-Romagna gave the T-Mobile men a workout defending Pinotti’s lead. A 27-man break containing Riccò escaped. Riccò was an unwelcome member of the break. The other members of the escape, including world champion Paolo Bettini, knew the pack would chase down a serious Classification contender. The break began to attack Riccò, doing everything they could to make him go back to the pack. At the same time, Riccò’s two-way radio stopped working. He made the choice to drop back and now Saunier Duval had to join T-Mobile to keep the fast-moving group from getting too far up the road. In the end the gap was 4 minutes 19 seconds, small enough to let Pinotti keep his lead with a 28-second margin over Liquigas rider Andrea Noè. Pinotti said that his team, at this point down to six riders, could not sustain that kind of effort again.

  The stage eight fuga di bidone had turned several good riders into Classification contenders, among them David Arroyo, Marzio Bruseghin, Francisco Vila, Andrea Noè, José Luis Rubiera and Emanuele Sella.

  Stage ten finished outside Genoa at the top the Santuario Nostra Signora della Guardia. On the Santuario’s slopes that reached a fourteen percent gradient, Di Luca made a test attack and then eased. Piepoli, the smallest man in the peloton, jumped four kilometers from the finish. No one could ride with “The Flying Trullo” (nicknamed for the ancient cone-shaped dwellings of his native Puglia), who finished alone. Di Luca finished eighteen seconds back and Simoni and Riccò were just behind him. Pinotti was right, keeping the lead after stage ten was beyond him. The new leader, Andrea Noè, at 38 years 4 months, was the oldest maglia rosa in the history of the Giro, beating Jens Heppner, 37 years 5 months in 2002, who had been the previous oldest wearer of the Pink Jersey. Up until then Aldo Moser, also slightly more than 37, had been the oldest Giro leader when he took over the Pink Jersey in 1971.

  The new General Classification: 1. Andrea Noè

  2. Marzio Bruseghin @ 1 minute 8 seconds

  3. David Arroyo @ 1 minute 15 seconds

  4. Francisco Vila @ 1 minute 38 seconds

  5. Evgeni Petrov @ 1 minute 48 seconds

  Stage twelve, with its ascents of the Colle d’Agnello—the 2007 Cima Coppi—and the Izoard signaled that the Giro had reached the high mountains. Simoni’s riders did the pace-making during the kilometers leading up to the Agnello and on the slopes of the mountain itself. After Riccò had done his work, Piepoli set a fiendish pace. Popovych and Savoldelli had been among several involved in a big finish line crash the day before and were too sore to keep up with Piepoli and dropped back.

  On the Izoard, Piepoli and Simoni smashed the lead group with a series of hammer blows. Di Luca went over the top alone with Simoni and surprising Astana gregario Eddy Mazzoleni (who had been given his freedom when Savoldelli faded on the Agnello) only 15 seconds back. There was a small regrouping on the descent. Di Luca won the uphill sprint into Briançon, and with that stage victory, retook the lead.

  The new General Classification: 1. Danilo Di Luca

  2. Marzio Bruseghin @ 1 minute 3 seconds

  3. David Arroyo @ 1 minute 16 seconds

  4. Andy Schleck @ 1 minute 25 seconds

  5. Francisco Vila @ 1 minute 39 seconds

  An uphill individual time trial in stage thirteen brought a surprise. Bruseghin—who had won only one other race in his entire pro career, the 2006 Italian Time Trial Championship—took the stage and reduced Di Luca’s lead to 55 seconds. That stage eight fuga di bidone was looking more interesting all the time.

  Stage fourteen from Cantù, north of Milan, headed north into the mountains before ending in Bergamo. Since the final climb crested 40 kilometers from the finish and stage fifteen was considered the year’s toughest stage, the top riders were expected to take it easy. If it were the Tour, where the riders usually ride not to lose, this would probably be the expected outcome. But this was the Giro, where riders are often more willing to take chances on a throw of the dice. So it was with stage fourteen, one of the finest days of racing in Giro history.

  Early in the stage a group of eleven high-quality riders, including Paolo Bettini, Pietro Caucchioli, Iban Mayo and José Luis Rubiera escaped. Back in the peloton on the final kilometers of the first climb, the 26-kilometer Passo San Marco, Garzelli’s Acqua & Sapone team ratcheted up the speed. Di Luca’s men countered. Over the crest, Acqua’s Massimo Codol took off on the technical descent and was quickly caught by Savoldelli, Garzelli and Mazzoleni. Soon thereafter Simoni went after the escapees and eventually they all hooked up. Di Luca (who had tarried to get a jacket for the cold descent), Bruseghin and Cunego had been caught napping. Three previous Giro winners, Garzelli, Savoldelli and Simoni, were off the front and chasing the eleven original breakaways.

  At the base of La Trinità-Dossena, the trio caught the Bettini group, so the strength of the current World Champion was added to the power of the runaway Giro winners. The pursuit was really on. Cunego’s and Di Luca’s teams kept the break’s lead within a minute. Simoni was daring on the descents, driving the break like a man possessed.

  In the town of Bergamo he attempted a last-minute flyer, but Garzelli, always a quick sprinter, took the stage. Chasing hard, Di Luca was able to close within 38 seconds o
f Simoni.

  Bruseghin, who stayed with his team captain Cunego, lost no time on Di Luca. While always respectful of Simoni, who had just taken 50 seconds away from him, Di Luca also noted that he had to increase his lead over Bruseghin with the Verona time trial coming up. The riders were exhausted, having spent the day redlined after a time trial. And the next day held the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Who brought the biggest tank of gas to the Giro?

  The General Classification stood thus: 1. Danilo Di Luca

  2. Marzio Bruseghin @ 55 seconds

  3. Andy Schleck @ 1 minute 57 seconds

  4. Damiano Cunego @ 2 minutes 40 seconds

  5. Gilberto Simoni @ 2 minutes 46 seconds

  On a wet Sunday the riders met to contest a fearsomely difficult day with four major passes ending on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Simoni would be expected to attempt a coup de grace on the steepest sections.

  Simoni certainly planned to take the Giro that day. On the first major climb of the day, the San Pellegrino, Simoni sent Riccò and Piepoli ahead. The team’s David Cañada was already up the road in an earlier break. They were eventually joined by Pérez-Cuapio and Ivan Parra, neither of whom contributed to the break. The quartet blasted by the earlier escape and was about four minutes ahead of the pack.

  Back in the peloton, the Astana team’s leadership changed hands. Since Savoldelli was out of contention and Mazzoleni was riding beautifully, Mazzoleni got more than the freedom to win stages, he became Astana’s protected General Classification rider.

  On the next climb, the Passo Giau, Savoldelli upped the pace and shelled all of Di Luca’s and Cunego’s teammates from the maglia rosa group. Among the dropped riders were Stefano Garzelli and Marzio Bruseghin, who now ceased to be threats.

  On the descent of the Giau, Savoldelli, who had been dropped but managed to regain contact, attacked and took Mazzoleni with him. By the bottom of the pass they were almost a minute and a half ahead of the small group of chasers which contained Di Luca, Cunego, Andy Schleck and Simoni.

  Beginning the final ascent, Mazzoleni’s gap to Di Luca had grown to 3 minutes 30 seconds. He was the virtual leader. Mazzoleni faded a bit on the steeper section of the mountain and Di Luca was able to dig deep enough to again save his lead and drop Simoni.

  This left the Giro General Classification still tight, but now there was a new man looking for the Pink Jersey. Di Luca worried that Mazzoleni, a gregario di lusso who had always ridden in the service of others, was the superior time trialist and therefore the real dangerman:

  1. Danilo Di Luca

  2. Eddy Mazzoleni @ 1 minute 51 seconds

  3. Andy Schleck @ 2 minutes 56 seconds

  4. Gilberto Simoni @ 3 minutes 19 seconds

  5. Damiano Cunego @ 3 minutes 23 seconds

  During the rest day after the Tre Cime stage, winter came to the Giro and came hard. Many riders wanted to cancel or modify the coming stage but Giro organization went ahead, saying that difficult stages are fully in keeping with the Giro’s history.

  Stage sixteen had lots of climbing, but with the final mountain crest coming 27 kilometers before the finish and stage seventeen having Monte Zoncolan, the contenders chose to keep their guns quiet.

  Garzelli paid the price for his stage fourteen exploit by losing almost seventeen and a half minutes on the Tre Cime stage. Being so far behind in the General Classification, he wasn’t chased as he made an audacious move 50 kilometers from the end. First bridging up to a break and then attacking them on the day’s penultimate descent over wet and dangerous roads, he held them all off on the final sixteen flat kilometers. That made a total of six career Giro stage victories for Garzelli and his first ever won solo.

  Stage seventeen was expected to be the Giro’s denouement with its hilltop finish atop Monte Zoncolan. Respecting the challenge, some riders had triple cranksets mounted. Even Di Luca, an excellent climber, had a compact cranks with a 34 tooth inner and a big 29 tooth cog in the back. Fearing that a stuck car might block the narrow road, team cars were forbidden and only motorcycles could follow the riders.

  The contenders arrived at the base of the Zoncolan together. About half way up Simoni jumped so hard only Andy Schleck and Piepoli could take the pace, and on the final kilometer, with Piepoli doing the pacesetting, Schleck finally had to yield. Simoni won the stage, his second victory on top of the big mountain. Cunego tried with all his might to drop Di Luca, but Di Luca was having another superb day, losing only a half-minute to Simoni on Simoni’s favorite turf.

  That left the General Classification thus: 1. Danilo Di Luca

  2. Andy Schleck @ 2 minutes 24 seconds

  3. Gilberto Simoni @ 2 minutes 28 seconds

  4. Damiano Cunego @ 3 minutes 29 seconds

  5. Eddy Mazzoleni @ 3 minutes 36 seconds

  Going into the final time trial Di Luca was generous in his words regarding his former teammate, Simoni, saying he hoped that Simoni would be able to stand with him on the final podium. Simoni was equally kind, expressing high regard for Di Luca and almost feeling bad that he had to attack Di Luca to win the Giro.

  Simoni wasn’t able to save his podium place. On a wet and dangerous ride that had many of the best riders throttling back a bit to stay safe, Savoldelli won the stage while Mazzoleni rode well enough to take third place overall. Di Luca, acknowledged by all the riders as the strongest and best rider that year, had won the 2007 Giro d’Italia.

  He was also the first rider from south of Rome to win the Giro. He called himself a terrone, an abusive term for Southern Italians. Di Luca had refused to wear an earphone to take direction from his director, preferring to rely on his own tactical instincts. Even though he was usually isolated in the high mountains and subjected to repeated merciless attacks, he rode his own race and controlled each and every danger.

  Simoni’s Saunier Duval team was blessed with an extraordinary run of good luck. Not one of its riders had a flat tire during the 2007 Giro.

  Final 2007 Giro d’Italia General Classification: 1. Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) 92 hours 59 minutes 39 seconds

  2. Andy Schleck (CSC) @ 1 minute 55 seconds

  3. Eddy Mazzoleni (Astana) @ 2 minutes 25 seconds

  4. Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval-Prodir) @ 3 minutes 15 seconds

  5. Damiano Cunego (Lampre) @ 3 minutes 49 seconds

  Climbers’ Competition: 1. Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval-Prodir): 79 points

  2. Fortunato Baliani (Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare): 46

  3. Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas): 45

  Points Competition: 1. Alessandro Petacchi (Milram): 185 points

  2. Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas): 130

  3. Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic): 120

  Tests later revealed that four riders had displayed suspiciously low hormone levels, mimicking those of prepubescent boys: Di Luca, Eddy Mazzoleni, Gilberto Simoni and Riccardo Riccò. Doping was assumed, but never proven.

  In October Di Luca was given a three-month suspension for his involvement with the 2004 Oil for Drugs scandal. Di Luca, as one of the above-mentioned four riders, had been accused of doping after the Monte Zoncolan stage of the 2007 Giro, but CONI exonerated him of that charge.

  2008. The Grand Tour organizers, threatening to withdraw their races from the UCI calendar, forced the UCI into an agreement that would separate all of their events, including prestigious single-day races such as Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Lombardy, from the Pro Tour. More control over the invitations was restored to the race promoters, freeing them of the requirement to invite all eighteen Pro Tour Teams to their races. Zomegnan used this newfound freedom to change the way many teams approached the Giro. Those squads with a history of making the Tour de France their primary goal, using the Giro only as a training race to prepare for the Tour, were not invited. RCS Sport wanted to improve the quality of the
race, and by making sure that everyone on the line was hungry for victory, that goal had a better chance of being fulfilled.

  On May 4, about a week before the Giro’s start, RCS Sport gave the cycling world a shock. Astana was given a last-minute invitation to ride because team director Johan Bruyneel had assured the Giro organization that he would send his “A” team to the Giro rather than a single good classification contender supported by a weak support squad as he had with his US Postal and Discovery Giro squads.

  Alberto Contador, the 2007 Tour de France champion, had won both the Castilla y León and País Vasco stage races in the spring of 2008. Expecting little racing during the Giro and the Tour because his team was so far invited to neither, he had decided to take a rest. Called from his beach vacation, Contador, along with the rest of the Astana team, hurried to Palermo for the first stage, a team time trial. While the entry of Astana was good news for Contador, Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer, it was a cruel blow to the smaller NCS-Medical team which had been carefully preparing (and spending money) for their Giro entry. Since there could only be 22 teams, NCS’ invitation was withdrawn.

  The results of the first stage, a 23.6-kilometer team time trial in Palermo, Sicily, were surprising. Team Slipstream, an American Continental team (a ranking below the Pro Tour status enjoyed by the big teams) won, making Christian Vande Velde the first American to wear pink since Andy Hampsten. Astana, shaking off the cobwebs, lost only 29 seconds. The day’s results spelled trouble for Denis Menchov, Riccardo Riccò and Gilberto Simoni, whose teams each lost about a minute.

  The next day had an uphill sprint finish in Agrigento. Riccò, who had targeted stage two, uncorked an irresistible sprint for the win. Vande Velde couldn’t stay with the leaders at the final rush to the line and had to give up his maglia rosa to Franco Pellizotti, who had never worn pink. Pellizotti said that this was his year to capture the big prize because hanging over him was the knowledge that his team, Liquigas, had signed Ivan Basso, who would surely be the Liquigas team leader in 2009 after serving his suspension.