2007 Giro d'Italia
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Giro d'Italia was the 90th running of the Giro d'Italia
, one of cycling's Grand Tours
. It took place from 12 May to 3 June 2007. The race began in Sardinia
and finished in Milan
, and featured five mountain top finishes, of which one was an individual time trial
. The race also visited France and Austria in three stages.
Danilo Di Luca
of the team won the race, with Andy Schleck
from and Eddy Mazzoleni
from rounding out the podium. Schleck also won the youth classification
, which featured in the Giro for the first time since 1994. Di Luca's team dominated the overall classification, holding the race leader's pink jersey
for 17 of the 21 stages.
During the race, Alessandro Petacchi
tested positive for elevated levels of salbutamol
at a doping control on 23 May, after winning Stage 11. Petacchi has a medical exemption to use salbutamol in the treatment of asthma, but the concentration of the drug in his urine sample from this control was above the therapeutically accepted level. Though the Italian Cycling Federation originally refused to punish him, the Italian National Olympic Committee appealed the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
, resulting in a suspension for the rider and forfeiture of all his results from the Giro.
and the Vuelta a España
), was one of several events run in 2007 as a UCI ProTour
event but without a ProTour license. This meant that while ProTour points were awarded in the race, the organizers were not obligated to invite the 20 ProTour teams. Nineteen of the twenty ProTour teams, being the exception, were invited, with three UCI Professional Continental teams rounding out the event's 22-team peloton. Each team entered nine riders, so the race began with 198 in total.
The 22 teams who took part in the race were:
In the months leading up to the Giro, headlines centered on defending champion Ivan Basso
. After having been removed from 's start list for the 2006 Tour de France
due to his apparent involvement in the Operación Puerto doping case
, Basso and Team CSC mutually agreed on the termination of his contract with them. Days later, Basso appeared to be cleared of any connection to Puerto, as the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) shelved his case, and he signed with . He rode part of the 2007 season with Discovery, and had intended to seek overall victory both in this Giro and in the 2007 Tour de France
with his new team. In April 2007, Basso's case was re-opened by the FCI, a step rarely taken on cases formally shelved. Facing further investigations into his involvement with the doping ring, team Discovery asked him to stop racing late in April. Shortly afterward, just two weeks before the Giro was to begin, Basso terminated his contract with Discovery, meaning the Giro started without its defending champion. Basso subsequently admitted to planning on doping in the 2006 Tour, and the FCI handed him a two-year suspension, with credit for time already served in 2006 after he was first connected to the doping ring. Paolo Bettini
, the reigning world champion, wore bib number one in Basso's place.
Basso's removal left wide open the possibilities for overall victory in this Giro. Four former Giro winners started this race – Damiano Cunego
, Paolo Savoldelli
, Gilberto Simoni
, and Stefano Garzelli
– and they were expected to be among the favorites. Simoni's team was noted to contain many strong climbers, including Riccardo Riccò
and Leonardo Piepoli
. The passage of the Giro over Monte Zoncolan
, where Simoni won a stage en route to overall victory in the 2003 Giro d'Italia
, was also noted as a factor in his favor. Classics specialist Danilo Di Luca
of was also named as a contender, chiefly because of his strong team. Further riders named as contenders included Pietro Caucchioli
and Yaroslav Popovych
.
The most high-profile sprinters lined up to begin the 2007 Giro were Alessandro Petacchi
and Robbie McEwen
. They, along with countrymen Mario Cipollini
and Baden Cooke
, had had a back-and-forth rivalry for sprinting supremacy that had gone back several years but had been stunted in 2006 when Petacchi missed most of the season, including all but the first three stages of the Giro, due to a fractured kneecap sustained from a crash. One pre-race analysis viewed Petacchi's 2007 Giro and season as a chance at redemption for him. Other fast men in the race noted to be contenders in the flat stages included two-time points classification winner Bettini, Danilo Napolitano
, and Graeme Brown
.
and two individual
), eleven flat or undulating stages (officially there was no distinction made between flat and undulating), four intermediate stages, and three mountain stages. The race began with a team time trial on the island of Sardinia
. This was followed by two flat stages and an unusually early rest day to transfer from Sardinia to Italy's mainland. The riders transferred by plane while the Giro caravan, race officials and team cars made the trip by boat. The final stage, as was tradition, was a flat, mostly ceremonial road stage to Milan
, finishing with ten circuits on the Corso Venezia of the Via Montenapoleone
.
There were three stages that began or ended outside Italy. Stage 12, the first high mountain stage, ended at the French city Briançon
, a frequent destination for the Tour de France
. The 16th stage ended at Lienz
in Austria
, and the 17th began there.
Five stages ended with climbs. Stage 4, the first intermediate stage, ended at Montevergine di Mercogliano
at 1260 m (4,133.9 ft). The tenth stage, also classified intermediate, had a less imposing final climb of 760 m (2,493.4 ft), but it was nonetheless expected to change the race's overall standings as it was very long it had numerous small climbs. Stage 13 was a climbing time trial, to Santuario di Oropa at 1142 m (3,746.7 ft), with gradients on the climb reaching as high as 13%. Two stages later was perhaps the race's most difficult stage, featuring four major climbs and ending at 2304 m (7,559.1 ft) at Tre Cime di Lavaredo
. The last mountaintop arrival was in the seventeenth stage, and featured one of the hardest climbs in the world, Monte Zoncolan
. Though the summit of this climb was lesser than some other peaks visited in the race, at 1730 m (5,675.9 ft), its gradients were crushing, with the steepest stretches reaching over 20% incline. Though the number of mountain stages was small, it was nonetheless expected that it would take a strong climber to win the race.
and not team leader Danilo Di Luca
who took the first pink jersey. Gasparotto faced intense questioning from his teammates and the media after not yielding first position to his team's captain, as is usual practice in a team time trial. Gasparotto yielded the jersey to Di Luca after stage 2, when Di Luca finished higher-placed in the mass finish, but took it back again after stage 3 when he contested the sprint and finished eighth. Finally, after stage 4, the six-way tie involving the Liquigas riders who finished together in the team time trial was broken, as Di Luca won the stage into Montevergine
and took the pink jersey again.
Di Luca held the race lead until the conclusion of stage 6, which was decided by a breakaway. Luis Felipe Laverde
and Marco Pinotti
were the last members of a five-man morning breakaway still together at the finish. Since Pinotti started the day better-placed in the overall classification and became the new race leader because of their time gap over the peloton, he allowed Laverde to take the stage win. Laverde took the green jersey as mountains classification
leader after the stage. The next three stages were flat and contested among sprinters and breakaways. This meant Pinotti was able to maintain his race lead with little difficulty, until stage 10, the Giro's next intermediate stage. The race's overall contenders showed themselves on this stage, with Leonardo Piepoli
putting in a decisive attack 5 km (3.1 mi) from the summit of the Santuario Nostra Signora della Guardia
to claim victory by 19 seconds over Di Luca. Pinotti finished more than four minutes back, and surrendered the pink jersey to Di Luca's teammate Andrea Noè
, who was tenth on the stage. At age 38, Noè was the oldest rider in the Giro and the oldest ever to lead a Grand Tour
. Di Luca took the green jersey after this stage, his second stint in the maglia verde to go along with his two in pink. 's Andy Schleck
took the white jersey
after this stage by finishing third, after Di Luca passed him for second in the final kilometer.
Stage 12 into Briançon
in France was the Giro's first high mountain stage, and it shook up the standings for the final time. Di Luca took the stage win, twice attacking from an elite group of five that had made the climb together. As Noè finished nearly ten minutes behind, Di Luca took the pink jersey for a third time, while still holding the green jersey. As Di Luca concentrated on winning the race overall, Piepoli took the green jersey after stage 15, the race's queen stage, topping two of that stage's climbs in first position. His lead in the mountains classification quickly became unassailable, and he won the jersey in Milan. It was also on this stage that 's Eddy Mazzoleni
distinguished himself as a podium contender, taking a minute and a half out of Di Luca to move into second overall. Schleck lost time to Di Luca and Mazzoleni, but gained time over other riders in the top of the overall standings and stood third overall.
The last minor change to the top of the overall standings took place during stage 17, to Monte Zoncolan
. The stage itself was conquered by the duo of Gilberto Simoni
and Piepoli. Since the climb had personal significance for Simoni, having won a stage there four years earlier, his teammate allowed him to cross the line first. Schleck, for his part, was third, just seven seconds back, and gained over two minutes against Mazzoleni to move up to the second step of the podium. Mazzoleni fell to fifth on this stage, but returned to the podium after the race's final time trial. Mazzoleni's teammate Paolo Savoldelli
won the stage by a comfortable margin, but Mazzoleni took back nearly all the time he had lost on the Zoncolan stage and finished the race third overall. Di Luca was not seriously challenged after taking the race lead in stage 12, and comfortably won the Giro in Milan with a two-minute gap over Schleck in second.
Di Luca's team Liquigas was dominant. They took three stage wins, two with Di Luca himself to go along with the race's opening team time trial, and held the pink jersey for all but four days. With Alessandro Petacchi's disqualification (see below), Saunier Duval-Prodir took the most stage wins. Three of their victories came in the high mountains, with Piepoli, Riccò, and Simoni all winning high-profile stages. Iban Mayo
added a breakaway win in Stage 18. team leader Stefano Garzelli
, a former Giro winner, also won two stages. Danilo Napolitano
and Marzio Bruseghin
both took wins for , and four other teams were single stage winners. The teams classifications and the classifications which awarded jerseys were all won by teams who had won stages, meaning eight of the 22 teams in the race took significant victories.
, an asthma medication which Petacchi has a medical exemption to use. Petacchi was obligated as the stage winner to give a urine sample to the doping authorities, and it had a concentration of 1,352 nanograms per milliliter of salbutamol, above the 1,000 allowed by the medical exemption. Salbutamol has anabolic
effects at high concentrations. Team Milram placed Petacchi on immediate provisional suspension following the Giro, which kept him from participating in the Tour de France
later that season as he had planned. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) asked the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) for a one-year ban for Petacchi.
The FCI refused to suspend Petacchi, and he returned to racing in late July. Their decision, however, was not made to exonerate Petacchi, but rather because they did not believe they should hear the case, instead deferring to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS). The CAS heard the case, and Petacchi testified to the court, stating that the hot and humid day on which the stage was the run had made it so that he took several extra puffs from his inhaler, but that this was accidental and that most had come after he had already crossed the finish line and won the stage.
In its decision, the CAS ruled that Petacchi had likely not intended to cheat, but that he had not exercised the "utmost caution" it deemed necessary to abide by doping rules. Petacchi was suspended for a year, minus the time he had already sat out after Team Milram first provisionally suspended him, and his results from the Giro were all stripped. Team Milram subsequently fired Petacchi, and he was without a team until late in the 2008 season. While the court's decision explicitly stripped Petacchi of his results from this race, it does not seem that it granted those victories retroactively to other riders.
Petacchi was not the only rider identified as giving a non-negative doping test during the Giro. Reports emerged in June that three riders were under suspicion of doping, later identified as Petacchi, Leonardo Piepoli
, and Iban Mayo
. Petacchi and Piepoli both gave tests showing elevated levels of salbutamol, while Mayo's had abnormally high testosterone levels. Mayo was quickly cleared, as further testing revealed that his testosterone levels were of natural origin and that his team had informed the UCI of this. Though Piepoli's level of salbutamol was, at 1,800 nanograms per milliliter, even higher than Petacchi's, he was cleared by his national federation of any doping charges in August.
Giro champion Danilo Di Luca
also gave an irregular doping test, after stage 17 to Monte Zoncolan. The test, given spontaneously hours after the routine test Di Luca gave for being race leader at the time, reportedly showed hormone levels like "those of a child," causing anti-doping authorities to suspect that Di Luca was using some means to cover the presence of banned substances. These unusual levels were not present in the routine test, leading to suspicions that Di Luca had received a blood transfusion
between the two tests. A CONI commission later cleared Di Luca on the basis of insufficient evidence to conclude that he had doped.
Mayo and Piepoli would both test positive for erythropoietin
later in their careers at the Tour de France, and Di Luca likewise at the 2009 Giro d'Italia
, all leading to lengthy suspensions, while Petacchi made a successful return to top-level cycling and to the Giro in 2009.
, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass start stages, the leader received a pink jersey. This classification is considered the most important of the Giro d'Italia, and the winner is considered the winner of the Giro.
Additionally, there was a points classification
, which awarded a mauve jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. The stage win awarded 25 points, second place awarded 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point less per place down the line, to a single point for 15th. In addition, some points could be won in intermediate sprints.
There was also a mountains classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a mountain before other cyclists. Each climb was categorized, either first, second, or third category, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The highest point in the Giro (called the Cima Coppi), which in 2007 was the Colle dell'Agnello
in stage 12, afforded still more points than the other first-category climbs.
The fourth was the young rider classification, which awarded a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born on or after 1 January 1982 were eligible. This classification was featured in the Giro in 2007 for the first time since 1994.
There were also two classifications for teams. The first was the Trofeo Fast Team. In this classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage are added, and the team with the lowest time is leading team. The Trofeo Super Team was a team points classification, with the top 20 placed riders on each stage earning points (20 for first place, 19 for second place and so on, down to a single point for 20th) for their team.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run. A year after the race, Alessandro Petacchi
was stripped of all his results; this table reflects the stages and jersey awards he originally won.
Other less well-known classifications were awarded during the Giro, whose leaders did not receive a special jersey. These awards were based on points earned throughout the three weeks of the tour. Each mass start stage had one intermediate sprint, awarding points to the Traguardo Volante Garibaldi classification. These sprints gave bonus seconds towards the general classification, points towards the regular points classification, and also points towards the Traguardo Volante Garibaldi. This award was known in previous years as the Intergiro, and was previously time-based, awarding a blue jersey. rider Mikhail Ignatiev won this classification.
Additional minor classifications included the combativity classification, which was a compilation of points gained for position on crossing intermediate sprints, mountain passes and stage finishes. Alessandro Petacchi
was the original winner, but with all his 2007 Giro results forfeited, it appears there is no official winner of this award. The Azzurri d'Italia classification was based on finishing order, but points were only awarded for the top three finishers in each stage. Petacchi originally won this as well.
Also, the Trofeo Fuga Gilera rewarded riders who took part in a breakaway at the head of the field, each rider in an escape of ten or fewer riders getting one point for each kilometre that the group stays clear. Along with the Traguardo Volante Garibadli, Mikhail Ignatiev also finished first in this classification. Teams were given penalty points for minor technical infringements. was not assessed any penalties, and so was the winner of the Fair Play classification.
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
, one of cycling's Grand Tours
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
. It took place from 12 May to 3 June 2007. The race began in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and finished in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and featured five mountain top finishes, of which one was an individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
. The race also visited France and Austria in three stages.
Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring...
of the team won the race, with Andy Schleck
Andy Schleck
Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974...
from and Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI ProTour Astana Team....
from rounding out the podium. Schleck also won the youth classification
Young rider classification in the Giro d'Italia
Since 1976, The Giro d'Italia has had a young rider classification. The leader in this classification wears the maglia bianca . The classification is determined by the best overall time, but only young cyclists were in the competition....
, which featured in the Giro for the first time since 1994. Di Luca's team dominated the overall classification, holding the race leader's pink jersey
Pink jersey statistics
Since the first Giro d'Italia in 1909, there have been 1,763 stages, up to and including the 21st stage of the 2011 Giro d'Italia. Since 1931, the race leader following each stage has been awarded the pink jersey ....
for 17 of the 21 stages.
During the race, Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling...
tested positive for elevated levels of salbutamol
Salbutamol
Salbutamol or albuterol is a short-acting β2-adrenergic receptor agonist used for the relief of bronchospasm in conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is marketed as Ventolin among other brand names....
at a doping control on 23 May, after winning Stage 11. Petacchi has a medical exemption to use salbutamol in the treatment of asthma, but the concentration of the drug in his urine sample from this control was above the therapeutically accepted level. Though the Italian Cycling Federation originally refused to punish him, the Italian National Olympic Committee appealed the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
, resulting in a suspension for the rider and forfeiture of all his results from the Giro.
Teams
The Giro, along with the season's other Grand Tours (the Tour de France2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
and the Vuelta a España
2007 Vuelta a España
The 2007 Vuelta a España, the sixty-second edition of the cycle race, took place from September 1 until September 23, 2007. For the first time in a decade, the race started in the region of Galicia, at Vigo, home to Óscar Pereiro, with a flat stage...
), was one of several events run in 2007 as a UCI ProTour
UCI ProTour
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI . Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series...
event but without a ProTour license. This meant that while ProTour points were awarded in the race, the organizers were not obligated to invite the 20 ProTour teams. Nineteen of the twenty ProTour teams, being the exception, were invited, with three UCI Professional Continental teams rounding out the event's 22-team peloton. Each team entered nine riders, so the race began with 198 in total.
The 22 teams who took part in the race were:
Race previews and favorites
Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who is currently racing with UCI ProTeam . Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, is among the best mountain riders in the professional field in the 21st century, and is considered one of the strongest stage race riders...
. After having been removed from 's start list for the 2006 Tour de France
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....
due to his apparent involvement in the Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...
, Basso and Team CSC mutually agreed on the termination of his contract with them. Days later, Basso appeared to be cleared of any connection to Puerto, as the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) shelved his case, and he signed with . He rode part of the 2007 season with Discovery, and had intended to seek overall victory both in this Giro and in the 2007 Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
with his new team. In April 2007, Basso's case was re-opened by the FCI, a step rarely taken on cases formally shelved. Facing further investigations into his involvement with the doping ring, team Discovery asked him to stop racing late in April. Shortly afterward, just two weeks before the Giro was to begin, Basso terminated his contract with Discovery, meaning the Giro started without its defending champion. Basso subsequently admitted to planning on doping in the 2006 Tour, and the FCI handed him a two-year suspension, with credit for time already served in 2006 after he was first connected to the doping ring. Paolo Bettini
Paolo Bettini
Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006...
, the reigning world champion, wore bib number one in Basso's place.
Basso's removal left wide open the possibilities for overall victory in this Giro. Four former Giro winners started this race – Damiano Cunego
Damiano Cunego
Damiano Cunego is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rides for the Italian UCI ProTeam . His biggest wins are the 2004 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Amstel Gold Race, and the Giro di Lombardia in 2004, 2007, 2008. He finished second in the UCI Road World Championships in 2008 and in the...
, Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli is an Italian former road racing cyclist and winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giro d'Italia....
, Gilberto Simoni
Gilberto Simoni
Gilberto Simoni is an Italian ex-professional road bicycle racer, most recently for . Simoni is twice winner of the Giro d'Italia cycling race...
, and Stefano Garzelli
Stefano Garzelli
Stefano Garzelli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The high point of his career to date was his overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-way competition with Gilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande.-Career:He started out as being a domestique for Marco Pantani but...
– and they were expected to be among the favorites. Simoni's team was noted to contain many strong climbers, including Riccardo Riccò
Riccardo Riccò
Riccardo Riccò is a professional road bicycle racer from Italy, currently under contract to UCI Continental team Meridiana-Kamen, and suspended from competition. He was ejected from the 2008 Tour de France for doping violations and suspended...
and Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.-Career:He is a record four-time winner of the...
. The passage of the Giro over Monte Zoncolan
Monte Zoncolan
Monte Zoncolan is a mountain in the Carnic Alps, located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing, having been used in the Giro d'Italia four times and the Giro Donne once...
, where Simoni won a stage en route to overall victory in the 2003 Giro d'Italia
2003 Giro d'Italia
The 2003 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 86th running of the race, was held from 10 May to 1 June 2003, consisting of 21 stages for a total of 3,472 km, ridden at an average speed of 38.828 km/h. It was won by Gilberto Simoni....
, was also noted as a factor in his favor. Classics specialist Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring...
of was also named as a contender, chiefly because of his strong team. Further riders named as contenders included Pietro Caucchioli
Pietro Caucchioli
Pietro Caucchioli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. Caucchioli is under suspension, since June 2009, following abnormal testing results within the Union Cycliste Internationale's biological passport system.His two stage wins at the 2001 Giro d'Italia and a podium finish at the 2002...
and Yaroslav Popovych
Yaroslav Popovych
Yaroslav Popovych is a Ukrainian cyclist with the UCI ProTour team . He was born in Drohobych, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Under-23 road race champion in 2001, Popovych turned professional in 2002 with , where he performed particularly strongly in the Giro d'Italia, finishing third in 2003...
.
The most high-profile sprinters lined up to begin the 2007 Giro were Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling...
and Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes...
. They, along with countrymen Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini , often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance and his colourful personality. His nicknames include Il Re Leone and Super Mario...
and Baden Cooke
Baden Cooke
Baden Cooke is an Australian professional racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team .Cooke began competitive cycling at 11. He completed secondary school at Galen College in Wangaratta, Victoria....
, had had a back-and-forth rivalry for sprinting supremacy that had gone back several years but had been stunted in 2006 when Petacchi missed most of the season, including all but the first three stages of the Giro, due to a fractured kneecap sustained from a crash. One pre-race analysis viewed Petacchi's 2007 Giro and season as a chance at redemption for him. Other fast men in the race noted to be contenders in the flat stages included two-time points classification winner Bettini, Danilo Napolitano
Danilo Napolitano
Danilo Napolitano is an Italian professional road racing cyclist on , and is chiefly known for his sprinting abilities....
, and Graeme Brown
Graeme Brown
Graeme Allen Brown OAM is a professional cyclist and dual Olympic gold medallist from Australia.-Cycling career - road and track:...
.
Route and stages
Race director Angelo Zomegnan commented that the route was designed to be easier than that of the extremely climbing-intensive 2006 Giro. The Giro's twenty-one stages were divided into the following classifications: three time trials (one teamTeam time trial
A team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock .Teams start at equal intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart...
and two individual
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
), eleven flat or undulating stages (officially there was no distinction made between flat and undulating), four intermediate stages, and three mountain stages. The race began with a team time trial on the island of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
. This was followed by two flat stages and an unusually early rest day to transfer from Sardinia to Italy's mainland. The riders transferred by plane while the Giro caravan, race officials and team cars made the trip by boat. The final stage, as was tradition, was a flat, mostly ceremonial road stage to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, finishing with ten circuits on the Corso Venezia of the Via Montenapoleone
Via Montenapoleone
Via Monte Napoleone, also spelt as Via Montenapoleone, is an elegant and expensive street in Milan, Italy, famous for its ready-to-wear fashion and jewelry shops...
.
Briançon
Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
, a frequent destination for the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
. The 16th stage ended at Lienz
Lienz
Lienz is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of Patriasdorf.-Geography:...
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and the 17th began there.
Five stages ended with climbs. Stage 4, the first intermediate stage, ended at Montevergine di Mercogliano
Montevergine
thumb|250px|The Sanctuary of Montevergine.The Montevergine, also known as Partenio or Monti di Avella, is a limestone massif in Campania, central Italy, part of the Apennine chain. It is located near Avellino, in the comune of Mercogliano...
at 1260 m (4,133.9 ft). The tenth stage, also classified intermediate, had a less imposing final climb of 760 m (2,493.4 ft), but it was nonetheless expected to change the race's overall standings as it was very long it had numerous small climbs. Stage 13 was a climbing time trial, to Santuario di Oropa at 1142 m (3,746.7 ft), with gradients on the climb reaching as high as 13%. Two stages later was perhaps the race's most difficult stage, featuring four major climbs and ending at 2304 m (7,559.1 ft) at Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps...
. The last mountaintop arrival was in the seventeenth stage, and featured one of the hardest climbs in the world, Monte Zoncolan
Monte Zoncolan
Monte Zoncolan is a mountain in the Carnic Alps, located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing, having been used in the Giro d'Italia four times and the Giro Donne once...
. Though the summit of this climb was lesser than some other peaks visited in the race, at 1730 m (5,675.9 ft), its gradients were crushing, with the steepest stretches reaching over 20% incline. Though the number of mountain stages was small, it was nonetheless expected that it would take a strong climber to win the race.
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 May | Caprera Caprera Caprera is a small island off the coast of Sardinia, Italy, located in the Maddalena archipelago.In the area of La Maddalena island in the Strait of Bonifacio, it is a tourist destination and is famous as the place to which Giuseppe Garibaldi retired .This island has been declared a natural reserve... to La Maddalena La Maddalena La Maddalena is a town and comune located on the island with the same name, in northern Sardinia, part of the province of Olbia-Tempio, Italy.-The town:... |
25.6 km (15.9 mi) |  |
Team time trial Team time trial A team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock .Teams start at equal intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart... |
||
| 2 | 13 May | Tempio Pausania Tempio Pausania Tempio Pausania is a town c. 14,000 inhabitants in the Gallura region of northern Sardinia, Italy, the administrative capital of the province of Olbia-Tempio.- History :... to Bosa |
205 km (127.4 mi) |  |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 3 | 14 May | Barumini Barumini Barumini is a comune in the Province of Medio Campidano in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 50 km north of Cagliari and about 15 km northeast of Sanluri.... to Cagliari Cagliari Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu... |
181 km (112.5 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 15 May | Rest day | ||||||
| 4 | 16 May | Salerno Salerno Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea.... to Montevergine di Mercogliano Montevergine thumb|250px|The Sanctuary of Montevergine.The Montevergine, also known as Partenio or Monti di Avella, is a limestone massif in Campania, central Italy, part of the Apennine chain. It is located near Avellino, in the comune of Mercogliano... |
153 km (95.1 mi) |  |
Intermediate stage | ||
| 5 | 17 May | Teano Teano Teano is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, 30 km north-west of that town on the main line to Rome from Naples. It stands at the south-east foot of an extinct volcano, Rocca Monfina.- Ancient times and Middle Ages:... to Frascati Frascati Frascati is a town and comune in the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific... |
173 km (107.5 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 6 | 18 May | Tivoli Tivoli, Italy Tivoli , the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills... to Spoleto Spoleto Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:... |
177 km (110 mi) | |
Intermediate stage | ||
| 7 | 19 May | Spoleto to Scarperia Scarperia Scarperia is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 25 km northeast of Florence.... |
254 km (157.8 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 8 | 20 May | Barberino di Mugello Barberino di Mugello Barberino di Mugello is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 25 km north of Florence. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 10,114 and an area of 133.7 km².... to Fiorano Modenese Fiorano Modenese Fiorano Modenese is a comune in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 45 km west of Bologna and about 15 km southwest of Modena... |
200 km (124.3 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 9 | 21 May | Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia.... to Lido di Camaiore Camaiore Camaiore is a town and comune of 31,503 inhabitants within the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. It stretches from the Alps to the east, to the plains and the coast of Versilia to the west.-Morphology:... |
177 km (110 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 10 | 22 May | Camiaore to Santuario Nostra Signora della Guardia Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia The “Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia” is a Catholic place of pilgrimage and is located on the top of Mount Figogna , in the Municipality of Ceranesi, about 20 km from the city of Genoa, in the northwest of Italy.... |
250 km (155.3 mi) | |
Intermediate stage | ||
| 11 | 23 May | Serravalle Scrivia Serravalle Scrivia Serravalle Scrivia is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 100 km southeast of Turin and about 25 km southeast of Alessandria.... to Pinerolo Pinerolo Pinerolo is a town and comune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance... |
198 km (123 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 12 | 24 May | Scalenghe Scalenghe Scalenghe is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 25 km southwest of Turin. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,156 and an area of 31.7 km².... to Briançon Briançon Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.... (France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... ) |
163 km (101.3 mi) |  |
Mountain stage | ||
| 13 | 25 May | Biella Biella Biella is a town and comune in the northern Italian region of Piemonte, the capital of the province of the same name, with some 45,800 inhabitants as of 2009. It is located about 80 km northeast of Turin and about 80 km west-northwest of Milan.It lies in the foothills of the Alps,... to Santuario di Oropa |
12.6 km (7.8 mi) | |
Individual time trial Individual time trial An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials... |
||
| 14 | 26 May | Cantù Cantù Cantù is a city and comune in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza.-History:... to Bergamo Bergamo Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan... |
192 km (119.3 mi) | |
Intermediate stage | ||
| 15 | 27 May | Trento Trento Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino... to Tre Cime di Lavaredo Tre Cime di Lavaredo The Tre Cime di Lavaredo are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps... |
184 km (114.3 mi) | |
Mountain stage | ||
| 28 May | Rest day | ||||||
| 16 | 29 May | Agordo Agordo Agordo is a town and comune sited in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region in Italy. It is located about 100 km north of Venice and about 20 km northwest of Belluno.... to Lienz Lienz Lienz is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of Patriasdorf.-Geography:... (Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... ) |
189 km (117.4 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 17 | 30 May | Lienz (Austria) to Monte Zoncolan Monte Zoncolan Monte Zoncolan is a mountain in the Carnic Alps, located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing, having been used in the Giro d'Italia four times and the Giro Donne once... |
142 km (88.2 mi) | |
Mountain stage | ||
| 18 | 31 May | Udine Udine Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical... to Riese Pio X Riese Pio X Riese Pio X is a municipality in northeast Italy located in the province of Treviso in the Region of Veneto. The community's name, much like that of Sotto il Monte Giovanni XXIII, commemorates its most famous son, Giuseppe Sarto, who later became Pope Pius X . As of 2007 Riese had an estimated... |
203 km (126.1 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 19 | 1 June | Treviso Treviso Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city... to Terme di Comano Lomaso Lomaso was a comune in Trentino in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. On January 1, 2010 it merged, with Bleggio Inferiore, in the new municipality of Comano Terme.-Geography:... |
179 km (111.2 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| 20 | 2 June | Bardolino Bardolino Bardolino is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 130 km west of Venice and about 25 km northwest of Verona.... to Verano Verano Verano can refer to one of the following places in Italy:*the Italian name of Vöran, a commune in South Tyrol.*Verano Brianza, a commune in the province of Milan.*the Verano monumental cemetery in Rome.Verano can also refer to:*Verano... |
43 km (27 mi) | |
Individual time trial Individual time trial An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials... |
||
| 21 | 3 June | Vestone Vestone Vestone is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is bounded by other communes of Lavenone and Barghe.-External links:*... to Milan Milan Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,... |
185 km (115 mi) | |
Flat or undulating stage | ||
| Total | 3486 km (2,166 mi) | ||||||
Race overview
The Giro began with a team time trial on the island of Sardinia. The winning team was , but due to unusual stage-ending tactics, it was Enrico GasparottoEnrico Gasparotto
Enrico Gasparotto is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team , which he joined in 2009...
and not team leader Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring...
who took the first pink jersey. Gasparotto faced intense questioning from his teammates and the media after not yielding first position to his team's captain, as is usual practice in a team time trial. Gasparotto yielded the jersey to Di Luca after stage 2, when Di Luca finished higher-placed in the mass finish, but took it back again after stage 3 when he contested the sprint and finished eighth. Finally, after stage 4, the six-way tie involving the Liquigas riders who finished together in the team time trial was broken, as Di Luca won the stage into Montevergine
Montevergine
thumb|250px|The Sanctuary of Montevergine.The Montevergine, also known as Partenio or Monti di Avella, is a limestone massif in Campania, central Italy, part of the Apennine chain. It is located near Avellino, in the comune of Mercogliano...
and took the pink jersey again.
Di Luca held the race lead until the conclusion of stage 6, which was decided by a breakaway. Luis Felipe Laverde
Luis Felipe Laverde
Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez is Colombian professional road bicycle racer for Café de Colombia-Colombia es Pasión. His best results are two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia, in 2006 and 2007.- Major victories :...
and Marco Pinotti
Marco Pinotti
Marco Pinotti is an Italian road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam . Pinotti is a specialist of individual time trial, in which he is a five-time Italian Time Trial Champion ....
were the last members of a five-man morning breakaway still together at the finish. Since Pinotti started the day better-placed in the overall classification and became the new race leader because of their time gap over the peloton, he allowed Laverde to take the stage win. Laverde took the green jersey as mountains classification
Mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia
The mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia is a secondary classification. In this classification, points are awarded to the leading riders over designated climbs. Most climbs are sorted into one of three scales based on difficulty and its position on that day's stage...
leader after the stage. The next three stages were flat and contested among sprinters and breakaways. This meant Pinotti was able to maintain his race lead with little difficulty, until stage 10, the Giro's next intermediate stage. The race's overall contenders showed themselves on this stage, with Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.-Career:He is a record four-time winner of the...
putting in a decisive attack 5 km (3.1 mi) from the summit of the Santuario Nostra Signora della Guardia
Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia
The “Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia” is a Catholic place of pilgrimage and is located on the top of Mount Figogna , in the Municipality of Ceranesi, about 20 km from the city of Genoa, in the northwest of Italy....
to claim victory by 19 seconds over Di Luca. Pinotti finished more than four minutes back, and surrendered the pink jersey to Di Luca's teammate Andrea Noè
Andrea Noè
Andrea Noè is an Italian professional road bicycle racer with . Since turning professional in 1993, he has always raced with Italian teams...
, who was tenth on the stage. At age 38, Noè was the oldest rider in the Giro and the oldest ever to lead a Grand Tour
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
. Di Luca took the green jersey after this stage, his second stint in the maglia verde to go along with his two in pink. 's Andy Schleck
Andy Schleck
Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974...
took the white jersey
Young rider classification in the Giro d'Italia
Since 1976, The Giro d'Italia has had a young rider classification. The leader in this classification wears the maglia bianca . The classification is determined by the best overall time, but only young cyclists were in the competition....
after this stage by finishing third, after Di Luca passed him for second in the final kilometer.
Stage 12 into Briançon
Briançon
Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
in France was the Giro's first high mountain stage, and it shook up the standings for the final time. Di Luca took the stage win, twice attacking from an elite group of five that had made the climb together. As Noè finished nearly ten minutes behind, Di Luca took the pink jersey for a third time, while still holding the green jersey. As Di Luca concentrated on winning the race overall, Piepoli took the green jersey after stage 15, the race's queen stage, topping two of that stage's climbs in first position. His lead in the mountains classification quickly became unassailable, and he won the jersey in Milan. It was also on this stage that 's Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI ProTour Astana Team....
distinguished himself as a podium contender, taking a minute and a half out of Di Luca to move into second overall. Schleck lost time to Di Luca and Mazzoleni, but gained time over other riders in the top of the overall standings and stood third overall.
The last minor change to the top of the overall standings took place during stage 17, to Monte Zoncolan
Monte Zoncolan
Monte Zoncolan is a mountain in the Carnic Alps, located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing, having been used in the Giro d'Italia four times and the Giro Donne once...
. The stage itself was conquered by the duo of Gilberto Simoni
Gilberto Simoni
Gilberto Simoni is an Italian ex-professional road bicycle racer, most recently for . Simoni is twice winner of the Giro d'Italia cycling race...
and Piepoli. Since the climb had personal significance for Simoni, having won a stage there four years earlier, his teammate allowed him to cross the line first. Schleck, for his part, was third, just seven seconds back, and gained over two minutes against Mazzoleni to move up to the second step of the podium. Mazzoleni fell to fifth on this stage, but returned to the podium after the race's final time trial. Mazzoleni's teammate Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli is an Italian former road racing cyclist and winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giro d'Italia....
won the stage by a comfortable margin, but Mazzoleni took back nearly all the time he had lost on the Zoncolan stage and finished the race third overall. Di Luca was not seriously challenged after taking the race lead in stage 12, and comfortably won the Giro in Milan with a two-minute gap over Schleck in second.
Di Luca's team Liquigas was dominant. They took three stage wins, two with Di Luca himself to go along with the race's opening team time trial, and held the pink jersey for all but four days. With Alessandro Petacchi's disqualification (see below), Saunier Duval-Prodir took the most stage wins. Three of their victories came in the high mountains, with Piepoli, Riccò, and Simoni all winning high-profile stages. Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo Diez is a professional road bicycle racer. His successes have been overshadowed by doping....
added a breakaway win in Stage 18. team leader Stefano Garzelli
Stefano Garzelli
Stefano Garzelli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The high point of his career to date was his overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-way competition with Gilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande.-Career:He started out as being a domestique for Marco Pantani but...
, a former Giro winner, also won two stages. Danilo Napolitano
Danilo Napolitano
Danilo Napolitano is an Italian professional road racing cyclist on , and is chiefly known for his sprinting abilities....
and Marzio Bruseghin
Marzio Bruseghin
Marzio Bruseghin is an Italian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His best achievement is winning the 2006 Italian time-trial championship, as well as winning two time trial stages in the Giro d'Italia...
both took wins for , and four other teams were single stage winners. The teams classifications and the classifications which awarded jerseys were all won by teams who had won stages, meaning eight of the 22 teams in the race took significant victories.
Doping cases
The most noteworthy doping case from the 2007 Giro involved sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. Petacchi took five stage wins, but after the third of them, he tested non-negative for salbutamolSalbutamol
Salbutamol or albuterol is a short-acting β2-adrenergic receptor agonist used for the relief of bronchospasm in conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is marketed as Ventolin among other brand names....
, an asthma medication which Petacchi has a medical exemption to use. Petacchi was obligated as the stage winner to give a urine sample to the doping authorities, and it had a concentration of 1,352 nanograms per milliliter of salbutamol, above the 1,000 allowed by the medical exemption. Salbutamol has anabolic
Anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids or colloquially simply as "steroids", are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue ,...
effects at high concentrations. Team Milram placed Petacchi on immediate provisional suspension following the Giro, which kept him from participating in the Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
later that season as he had planned. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) asked the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) for a one-year ban for Petacchi.
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
(CAS). The CAS heard the case, and Petacchi testified to the court, stating that the hot and humid day on which the stage was the run had made it so that he took several extra puffs from his inhaler, but that this was accidental and that most had come after he had already crossed the finish line and won the stage.
In its decision, the CAS ruled that Petacchi had likely not intended to cheat, but that he had not exercised the "utmost caution" it deemed necessary to abide by doping rules. Petacchi was suspended for a year, minus the time he had already sat out after Team Milram first provisionally suspended him, and his results from the Giro were all stripped. Team Milram subsequently fired Petacchi, and he was without a team until late in the 2008 season. While the court's decision explicitly stripped Petacchi of his results from this race, it does not seem that it granted those victories retroactively to other riders.
Petacchi was not the only rider identified as giving a non-negative doping test during the Giro. Reports emerged in June that three riders were under suspicion of doping, later identified as Petacchi, Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.-Career:He is a record four-time winner of the...
, and Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo Diez is a professional road bicycle racer. His successes have been overshadowed by doping....
. Petacchi and Piepoli both gave tests showing elevated levels of salbutamol, while Mayo's had abnormally high testosterone levels. Mayo was quickly cleared, as further testing revealed that his testosterone levels were of natural origin and that his team had informed the UCI of this. Though Piepoli's level of salbutamol was, at 1,800 nanograms per milliliter, even higher than Petacchi's, he was cleared by his national federation of any doping charges in August.
Giro champion Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring...
also gave an irregular doping test, after stage 17 to Monte Zoncolan. The test, given spontaneously hours after the routine test Di Luca gave for being race leader at the time, reportedly showed hormone levels like "those of a child," causing anti-doping authorities to suspect that Di Luca was using some means to cover the presence of banned substances. These unusual levels were not present in the routine test, leading to suspicions that Di Luca had received a blood transfusion
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...
between the two tests. A CONI commission later cleared Di Luca on the basis of insufficient evidence to conclude that he had doped.
Mayo and Piepoli would both test positive for erythropoietin
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
later in their careers at the Tour de France, and Di Luca likewise at the 2009 Giro d'Italia
2009 Giro d'Italia
The 2009 Giro d'Italia was the 92nd running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It was held from 9 to 31 May 2009, and marked the 100th year since the first edition of the race...
, all leading to lengthy suspensions, while Petacchi made a successful return to top-level cycling and to the Giro in 2009.
Classification leadership
In the 2007 Giro d'Italia, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classificationGeneral Classification
The general classification in bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for bicycle riders in multi-stage bicycle races...
, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass start stages, the leader received a pink jersey. This classification is considered the most important of the Giro d'Italia, and the winner is considered the winner of the Giro.
Additionally, there was a points classification
Points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning intermediate sprints. The points classification is the top prize for many cycling sprinters and therefore is often known as the Sprint Classification;...
, which awarded a mauve jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. The stage win awarded 25 points, second place awarded 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point less per place down the line, to a single point for 15th. In addition, some points could be won in intermediate sprints.
There was also a mountains classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a mountain before other cyclists. Each climb was categorized, either first, second, or third category, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The highest point in the Giro (called the Cima Coppi), which in 2007 was the Colle dell'Agnello
Col Agnel
Col Agnel is a mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, west of Monte Viso between France and Italy which links the Queyras valley with Pontechianale in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont....
in stage 12, afforded still more points than the other first-category climbs.
The fourth was the young rider classification, which awarded a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born on or after 1 January 1982 were eligible. This classification was featured in the Giro in 2007 for the first time since 1994.
There were also two classifications for teams. The first was the Trofeo Fast Team. In this classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage are added, and the team with the lowest time is leading team. The Trofeo Super Team was a team points classification, with the top 20 placed riders on each stage earning points (20 for first place, 19 for second place and so on, down to a single point for 20th) for their team.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run. A year after the race, Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling...
was stripped of all his results; this table reflects the stages and jersey awards he originally won.
| Stage | Winner | General classification |
Points classification |
Mountains classification Mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia The mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia is a secondary classification. In this classification, points are awarded to the leading riders over designated climbs. Most climbs are sorted into one of three scales based on difficulty and its position on that day's stage...  |
Young rider classification Young rider classification in the Giro d'Italia Since 1976, The Giro d'Italia has had a young rider classification. The leader in this classification wears the maglia bianca . The classification is determined by the best overall time, but only young cyclists were in the competition....  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enrico Gasparotto Enrico Gasparotto Enrico Gasparotto is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team , which he joined in 2009... |
no award | no award | Enrico Gasparotto Enrico Gasparotto Enrico Gasparotto is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team , which he joined in 2009... |
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| 2 | Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes... |
Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes... |
Pavel Brutt Pavel Brutt Pavel Brutt is a Russian professional track and road bicycle racer. He currently rides for UCI ProTour team Team Katusha the first Russian-owned team to compete in European cycling's elite,... |
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| 3 | Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
Enrico Gasparotto Enrico Gasparotto Enrico Gasparotto is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team , which he joined in 2009... |
Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
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| 4 | Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes... |
Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Vincenzo Nibali Vincenzo Nibali Vincenzo Nibali is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who rides UCI ProTeam . Born near the Strait of Messina, Nibali's nickname is the "shark of the strait" or simply "the shark." His first major win came at the 2006 GP Ouest-France, where he beat an impressive field on a tough course... |
| 5 | Robert Förster Robert Förster Robert Förster is a German professional road racing cyclist, specialising in bunch sprints, currently riding for .He turned professional in 2001, initially riding for Team Nürnberger... |
Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
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| 6 | Luis Felipe Laverde Luis Felipe Laverde Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez is Colombian professional road bicycle racer for Café de Colombia-Colombia es Pasión. His best results are two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia, in 2006 and 2007.- Major victories :... |
Marco Pinotti Marco Pinotti Marco Pinotti is an Italian road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam . Pinotti is a specialist of individual time trial, in which he is a five-time Italian Time Trial Champion .... |
Luis Felipe Laverde Luis Felipe Laverde Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez is Colombian professional road bicycle racer for Café de Colombia-Colombia es Pasión. His best results are two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia, in 2006 and 2007.- Major victories :... |
Hubert Schwab Hubert Schwab Hubert Schwab is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI Professional Continental team . He retired from cycling after 2010 in order to return to his studies.- Palmares :... |
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| 7 | Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
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| 8 | Kurt Asle Arvesen Kurt Asle Arvesen Kurt Asle Arvesen is a former Norwegian professional road bicycle racer for . Arvesen is from Eresfjord, Nesset. From 2012 he will be manager of .... |
Alexandr Arekeev | |||
| 9 | Danilo Napolitano Danilo Napolitano Danilo Napolitano is an Italian professional road racing cyclist on , and is chiefly known for his sprinting abilities.... |
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| 10 | Leonardo Piepoli Leonardo Piepoli Leonardo Piepoli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.-Career:He is a record four-time winner of the... |
Andrea Noè Andrea Noè Andrea Noè is an Italian professional road bicycle racer with . Since turning professional in 1993, he has always raced with Italian teams... |
Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Andy Schleck Andy Schleck Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974... |
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| 11 | Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
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| 12 | Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
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| 13 | Marzio Bruseghin Marzio Bruseghin Marzio Bruseghin is an Italian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His best achievement is winning the 2006 Italian time-trial championship, as well as winning two time trial stages in the Giro d'Italia... |
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| 14 | Stefano Garzelli Stefano Garzelli Stefano Garzelli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The high point of his career to date was his overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-way competition with Gilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande.-Career:He started out as being a domestique for Marco Pantani but... |
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| 15 | Riccardo Riccò Riccardo Riccò Riccardo Riccò is a professional road bicycle racer from Italy, currently under contract to UCI Continental team Meridiana-Kamen, and suspended from competition. He was ejected from the 2008 Tour de France for doping violations and suspended... |
Leonardo Piepoli Leonardo Piepoli Leonardo Piepoli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.-Career:He is a record four-time winner of the... |
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| 16 | Stefano Garzelli Stefano Garzelli Stefano Garzelli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The high point of his career to date was his overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-way competition with Gilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande.-Career:He started out as being a domestique for Marco Pantani but... |
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| 17 | Gilberto Simoni Gilberto Simoni Gilberto Simoni is an Italian ex-professional road bicycle racer, most recently for . Simoni is twice winner of the Giro d'Italia cycling race... |
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| 18 | Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
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| 19 | Iban Mayo Iban Mayo Iban Mayo Diez is a professional road bicycle racer. His successes have been overshadowed by doping.... |
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| 20 | Paolo Savoldelli Paolo Savoldelli Paolo Savoldelli is an Italian former road racing cyclist and winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giro d'Italia.... |
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| 21 | Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
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| Final | Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca Danilo Di Luca is an Italian professional road racing cyclist who rode for numerous UCI Professional Continental teams throughout his career including Liquigas-Bianchi and . He holds victories in the Giro di Lombardia in 2001, the 2005 UCI ProTour and won both the Giro d'Italia and the spring... |
Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling... |
Leonardo Piepoli Leonardo Piepoli Leonardo Piepoli is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He most recently rode for on the UCI ProTour, but had his contract suspended in July 2008 during the Tour de France amid allegations of the use of the blood boosting drug EPO in the team.-Career:He is a record four-time winner of the... |
Andy Schleck Andy Schleck Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974... |
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Final standings
| Legend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Denotes the winner of the General classification | |
Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification Mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia The mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia is a secondary classification. In this classification, points are awarded to the leading riders over designated climbs. Most climbs are sorted into one of three scales based on difficulty and its position on that day's stage... |
| |
Denotes the winner of the Points classification | |
Denotes the winner of the Young rider classification Young rider classification in the Giro d'Italia Since 1976, The Giro d'Italia has had a young rider classification. The leader in this classification wears the maglia bianca . The classification is determined by the best overall time, but only young cyclists were in the competition.... |
General classification
| Rider | Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
92h 59' 39" | |
| 2 | |
+ 1' 55" | |
| 3 | + 2' 25" | ||
| 4 | + 3' 15" | ||
| 5 | + 3' 49" | ||
| 6 | + 7' 00" | ||
| 7 | + 8' 34" | ||
| 8 | + 10' 14" | ||
| 9 | + 10' 44" | ||
| 10 | + 11' 58" |
Mountains classification
| Rider | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
79 | |
| 2 | 46 | ||
| 3 | |
45 | |
| 4 | 41 | ||
| 5 | 36 | ||
| 6 | 24 | ||
| 7 | 23 | ||
| 8 | |
20 | |
| 9 | 17 | ||
| 10 | 15 |
Points classification
| Rider | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
|
|
|
| 2 | |
130 | |
| 3 | 120 | ||
| 4 | 107 | ||
| 5 | |
93 | |
| 6 | 92 | ||
| 7 | 91 | ||
| 8 | |
85 | |
| 9 | 76 | ||
| 10 | 76 |
Young rider classification
| Rider | Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
93h 01' 34" | |
| 2 | + 5' 05" | ||
| 3 | + 22' 00" | ||
| 4 | + 29' 47" | ||
| 5 | + 32' 24" | ||
| 6 | + 1h 07' 00" | ||
| 7 | + 1h 24' 46" | ||
| 8 | + 1h 24' 52" | ||
| 9 | + 1h 33' 11" | ||
| 10 | + 1h 34' 56" |
Trofeo Fast Team classification
| Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 278h 11' 31" | |
| 2 | + 3' 53" | |
| 3 | + 6' 06" | |
| 4 | + 6' 56" | |
| 5 | + 10' 15" | |
| 6 | + 1h 02' 26" | |
| 7 | + 1h 51' 04" | |
| 8 | + 1h 52' 21" | |
| 9 | + 1h 53' 14" | |
| 10 | + 2h 21' 31" |
Trofeo Super Team classification
| Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 408 | |
| 2 | 364 | |
| 3 | 359 | |
| 4 | 336 | |
| 5 | 287 | |
| 6 | 261 | |
| 7 | 237 | |
| 8 | 219 | |
| 9 | 212 | |
| 10 | 205 |
Minor classifications
Additional minor classifications included the combativity classification, which was a compilation of points gained for position on crossing intermediate sprints, mountain passes and stage finishes. Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian professional road racing cyclist for .A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 51 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010.In 2007 Alessandro was banned from cycling...
was the original winner, but with all his 2007 Giro results forfeited, it appears there is no official winner of this award. The Azzurri d'Italia classification was based on finishing order, but points were only awarded for the top three finishers in each stage. Petacchi originally won this as well.
Also, the Trofeo Fuga Gilera rewarded riders who took part in a breakaway at the head of the field, each rider in an escape of ten or fewer riders getting one point for each kilometre that the group stays clear. Along with the Traguardo Volante Garibadli, Mikhail Ignatiev also finished first in this classification. Teams were given penalty points for minor technical infringements. was not assessed any penalties, and so was the winner of the Fair Play classification.
External links
- cyclingnews.com - race reports and news features