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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 Liquigas team won the race, with Andy Schleck from Team CSC and Eddy Mazzoleni from Astana 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.[1] 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. In July 2007, the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) ruled that Petacchi gave good reasons for this high level, and exonerated him. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) argued that Petacchi should be suspended for the high level of salbutamol, and sent the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the sporting world's highest court. In May 2008, the CAS overruled the decision from the FCI, and Petacchi was stripped of most of his 2007 results, including all his results from the Giro.[2] Neither his stage victories nor his mauve jersey for winning the points classification have been awarded to other riders.
[edit] TeamsThe Giro, along with the season's other Grand Tours (the Tour de France 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, Unibet.com 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:[3] [edit] Race previews and favoritesIn the months leading up to the Giro, headlines centered on defending champion Ivan Basso. After having been removed from Team CSC's start list for the 2006 Tour de France due to his apparent involvement in the Operación Puerto doping case,[4] Basso and Team CSC mutually agreed on the termination of his contract with them.[5] Days later, Basso appeared to be cleared of any connection to Puerto, as the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) shelved his case,[6] and he signed with Discovery Channel.[7][8] 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.[9][10][11] In April 2007, Basso's case was re-opened by the FCI, a step rarely taken on cases formally shelved.[6] Facing further investigations into his involvement with the doping ring, team Discovery asked him to stop racing late in April.[12] Shortly afterward, just two weeks before the Giro was to begin, Basso terminated his contract with Discovery,[13] meaning the Giro started without its defending champion. Basso would subsequently admit to planning on doping in the 2006 Tour,[14] 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.[15] Paolo Bettini, the reigning world champion, wore bib number one in Basso's place.[3] Basso's removal left wide open the possibilities for overall victory in this Giro.[16] 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.[9][17] Simoni's Saunier Duval – Prodir 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.[16] Classics specialist Danilo Di Luca of Liquigas was also named as a contender, chiefly because of his strong team. Further riders named as contenders included Pietro Caucchioli and Yaroslav Popovych.[16] 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[18] 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.[19] One pre-race analysis viewed Petacchi's 2007 Giro and season as a chance at redemption for him.[9] Other fast men in the race noted to be contenders in the flat stages included two-time points classification winner Bettini,[17] Danilo Napolitano, and Graeme Brown.[16] [edit] Route and stagesRace organizer Angelo Zomegnan commented that the route was designed to be easier than that of the extremely climbing-intensive 2006 Giro.[9] The Giro's twenty-one stages were divided into the following classifications: three time trials (one team and two individual), eleven flat or undulating stages (officially there was no distinction made between flat and undulating), four medium mountain stages, and three mountain stages.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22] There were three stages that began or ended outside Italy.[20] Stage 12, the first high mountain stage, ended at the French city Briançon, a frequent destination for the Tour de France.[23] The sixteenth stage ended at Lienz in Austria,[24] and the seventeenth began there.[25] Five stages ended with climbs. Stage 4, the first medium mountain stage, ended at Montevergine di Mercogliano at 1,260 m (4,100 ft).[26] The tenth stage, also classified medium mountain, had a less imposing final climb of 760 m (2,500 ft), but it was nonetheless expected to change the race's overall standings as it was very long it had numerous small climbs.[27] Stage 13 was a climbing time trial, to Santuario di Oropa at 1,142 m (3,750 ft), with gradients on the climb reaching as high as 13%.[28] Two stages later was perhaps the race's most difficult stage, featuring four major climbs and ending at 2,304 m (7,560 ft) at Tre Cime di Lavaredo.[29] 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 1,730 m (5,700 ft), its gradients were crushing, with the steepest stretches reaching over 20% incline.[25] Though the number of mountain stages was small, it was nonetheless expected that it would take a strong climber to win the race.[21]
[edit] Race overview[edit] Doping cases[edit] Classification leadershipIn the 2007 Giro d'Italia, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, 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.[30] 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 fifteenth. In addition, some points could be won in intermediate sprints.[30] 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.[30] 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.[30] This classification was featured in the Giro in 2007 for the first time since 1994.[31] There were also two classifications for teams. The first is 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 is 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 twentieth) for their team.[30] A year after the race, Alessandro Petacchi was stripped of his results from the 2007 Giro.[2] [edit] Final standings
[edit] Minor classificationsOther 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.[30] 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.[30] Tinkoff Credit Systems rider Mikhail Ignatiev won this classification.[36] 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.[37] 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.[38] 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.[39] Additionally, teams were on occasion given penalty points for technical infringements. Française des Jeux avoided any penalties, and so was the winner of the Fair Play classification.[30][40] [edit] References
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