Special coverage Giro 2007

03.12.2006/ 2007 Giro d'Italia route announced

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2007 Giro d'Italia route announced

Yesterday the route of the 90th edition of the Giro d'Italia was presented in Milano (Italy). The presentattion started with a film showing highlights of the 2006 edition of the Giro like the ceremony after Ivan Basso's overall victory and Jan Ullrich's ITT stage win.

The 2007 Giro will open with a 24 kilometer long team time trial on the tiny island Caprera off the north coast of Sardinia on May 12 and ends in Milano on June 3.

After three days on Sardinia the riders will fly to salerno and have their first restday on Tuesday May 15. On May 16 the fourth stage will take the riders from Salerno to Montevergine di Mercogliano, the first of five mountain top finishes. The Montevergine di Mercogliano is a 17.1 kilometer long climb that has gradients up to 10%, the average gradient is 5%. In 2001 Danilo Di Luca won a stage here and Damiano Cunego won at the in Montevergine di Mercogliano in 2004.

The Giro will then travel to the north, climbing the Monte Terminillo at stage 6. The next highlight will be at the 10th stage with a mountain top finish at the Santuario Nostra Signora della Guardia. This climb is nine kilometers long and it is the first time this mountain is climbed in the Giro. Stage 12 will take the riders to Briançon, France. Before the riders will arrive in the Franch city, they have to climb the Colle dell'Agnello and the Colle d'Izoard. Stage 13 is a mountain time trial from Biella to Oropa. The last winner at the Santuario di Oropa was Marco Pantani in 1999. This mountain has an average gradient of 5.5%, with a maximum gradient of 13%.

On May 26 The riders will climb the Passo San Marco during stage 14, which will bring the riders from Cantù to Bergamo. The Passo San marco is earlier in the stage and probebly won't be very decisive. Stage 15 will start in Trento and finshes on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The last time the riders climbed the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, was in 1989 when Columbian Luis Herrera took the stage here. Before the riders start this climb with a maximum gradient of up to 18%, the riders already climbed the Passo di San Pellegrino and the Passo Giau.

The final week will take the Giro into Austria with a stage finish in Lienz after the second restday (which will be at May 28) . Stage 17 will finish at the Zoncolan, the mountain which is feared by many riders. The last time this climb was part of the Giro was in 2003, when Gilberto Simoni took the stage and won the overall of the Giro. The Zoncolan is a 10.1 kilometer long climb and has an average gradient of 11.9%, a long and narrow tunnel and sections of 22, 20 and 18% gradients.

Gilberto Simoni: "It will be a very open Giro. The arrival on Zoncolan is one I like a lot."

The candidates for the overall victory of the 2007 Giro d'Italia will have two days to recover from the Zoncolan. Stage 18 and 19 are relativly flat but the Milram train will have to work hard as a lot of riders will try to win a stage before stage 20 will bring the last chance for the overall win. Stage 20 is a 42 kilometers long individual time trail from Bardolino to Verona. On June three the Giro will end with the 21th stage, a 181 kilometers long stage from Vestone to the traditional finish in Milano.

CSC sports director Kim Andersen commented on Saturday: "It seems to be an interesting Giro favouring the climbers who will have a lot of possibilities to win stages."

Last years overall winner Ivan Basso does not want to think about his alleged involvement in the Puerto affair anymore, Basso commented: "I've been cleared by two sports courts. The only thing I'm interested in now is getting back to competing." About the 2007 Giro Basso said: "I like the course a lot. It's more varied than last year and should be more open. I think it will be a spectacular race".

Basso also said: "Most people have been behind me in the four months that I was forcefully banned from racing. To all of them I want to say one thing: Wait until I return to the major stage races to see what I'm capable of. It is the only possible way of showing that my implication was total nonsense. My name has never appeared in this Spanish investigation."

Ivan Basso could be the first rider to win back to back Giros since Miguel Indurain in 1992 and 1993. Basso announced earlier that he wants to win the double, the Giro and the Tour de France in one year, in 2007. The last rider who won the double was Marco Pantani in 1998.

Ivan Basso wants to repeat his overall Giro victory (Picture: Cyclingheroes)

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