1 | Wednesday, April 22nd | 17.5 km | ||||
Torbole → Arco | TT | |||||
profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video | ||||||
2 | Thursday, April 23rd | 141 km | ||||
Riva del Garda → Alpe di Pampeago | ||||||
profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video | ||||||
3 | Friday, April 24th | 165 km | ||||
Tesero → Innervillgraten, AT | ||||||
profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video | ||||||
4 | Saturday, April 25th | 214 km | ||||
Sillian, AT → Pejo Fonti | ||||||
profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video | ||||||
Total Distance | 565 km | |||||
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Stage 4 Results 1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini 214.2km in 4.58.19 2 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce 3 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo 4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group-Navigare 5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas + 0.04 6 Przemyslaw Niemec (Pol) Miche-Silver Cross + 0.22 7 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Diquigiovanni-Androni + 0.22 8 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Amica Chips-Knauf + 0.22 9 Jackson Rodriguez (Ita) Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli + 0.22 10 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana + 0.30 Final Classification 1 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 13.17.50 2 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana + 0.22 3 Przemyslaw Niemec (Pol) Miche-Silver Cross + 0.33 4 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo + 0.55 5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group-Navigare + 1.08 6 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli + 1.14 7 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce + 1.18 8 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini + 1.49April 25 update:
Stage 4 Start Time: Saturday 10:00 PM CEST ();
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Approximate Finish: 15:21 PM CEST ()
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RAI Sport will have 30 mins of highlights each evening. Stage 4 highlights will air Saturday at 20:55 CEST () completed | |
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Stage 3 Results 1 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 4.09.16 (38.513 km/h) 2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini 4 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Diquigiovanni-Androni 5 Pasquale Muto (Ita) Miche - Silver Cross General Classification after stage 3 1 Jani Brajkovic (Astana) 2 Ivan Basso (Liquigas) + 0'04" 3 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Miche-Silver) + 0'19"Hunter vince, Di Luca c'è Festa per due in Austria — gazzetta.it
Stage 2 Results 1 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Miche-Silver) 137 km in 3h50'44" 2 Ivan Basso (Liquigas) + 0'22" 3 Giampaolo Caruso (Flaminia) + 0'45" 4 Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni-Androni) + 0'45" 5 Jani Brajkovic (Astana) + 1'01" General Classification after stage 2 1 Jani Brajkovic (Astana) 2 Ivan Basso (Liquigas) + 0'04" 3 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Miche-Silver) + 0'22"Trentino, Niemec solitario Battuti Basso e Caruso — gazzetta.it
Stage 1 Results 1 Andreas Kloeden (Astana, Ger) 18'21" 53,290 kph 2 Jani Brajkovic (Astana) 0'01" 3 Andrey Grivko (Milram) 0'07" ... Ivan Basso 19'11" Gilberto Simoni 19'38"Trentino, crono a Klöden — gazzetta.it
April 20 update: A four day stage race, the Giro del Trentino serves as a training race for the Giro d’Italia, and in particular for the mountain stages of Italy’s grand tour. Mountains dominate the region of Trentino, situated in Northeastern Italy and bordering Austria. This is the home region of Francesco Moser and Gilberto Simoni, and it’s easy to see why it would breed climbers. As the stage profiles for this Giro del Trentino show, flat roads are few and far between.
"The Giro del Trentino will be harder than ever. Too bad, that Armstrong will not be there, but Basso and Simoni will give a nice antipasto for the Giro d'Italia," commented Francesco Moser recently. This year’s race welcomes four previous Giro d’Italia winners: Ivan Basso of Team Liquigas, Danilo Diluca of LPR Brakes, Stefano Garzelli of Acqua e Sapone, and local boy, Gilberto Simoni of Diquigiovanni-Androni. Team Liquigas will also bring Giro co-captain Franco Pellizotti to the party in Trentino. Pellizotti finished fourth in last year’s Giro d’Italia.
Other riders to watch include Andreas Klöden who will lead Astana, climbers Félix Cardenas and Juan Mauricio Soler representing Barloworld, last year’s Giro third place Marzio Bruseghin of Lampre-Ngc, former Italian National Champion Giovanni Visconti of ISD, and climber Ezequiel Mosquera of Xacobeo-Galicia who finished fourth in last year’s Vuelta a España. Alessandro Petacchi will start for LPR Brakes, though he will not enjoy much, if any podium time on this mountainous course. Last year’s winner Vincenzo Nibali of Team Liquigas will not ride Trentino, as he is busy in the Ardennes this week. Likewise, for former winner Damiano Cunego of Lampre-Ngc.
The race will have a special prime for the "most combative" rider to commemorate Enzo Moser, the older brother of Francesco Moser. Enzo Moser, who wore the Maglia Rosa for two days in the 1964 Giro, was killed in an accident last July. The journalists covering the race will determine the winner of this prize by vote. There will also be a special prime for the winner of stage 2 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Marco Pantani's win on the Alpe di Pampeago during the 1999 Giro d’Italia.
Stage 1. The Giro del Trentino opens with a 17.5 kilometer time trial whose profile is almost completely flat. The course begins in the town of Torbole on the banks of the Lago di Garda. After a series of loopy bits, the course travels northeast to finish in Arco, one of the many valley towns set among the mountains in Trentino. The crono is curvaceous and technical, boasting 52 corners.
This stage is one for the crono specialists, but the short distance won't hurt the climbers too much. Gilberto Simoni will still be smiling when it's over, but Basso will be smiling even more. Marzio Bruseghin should ride well here, as should Andreas Klöden.
Stage 2. The second stage begins in Riva del Garda near where the crono began. The course follows the valley floor Northeast approximately 50 kilometers until it reaches Trento. The flat kilometers are a tease, though, for this stage is made for the climbers.
Just outside Trento comes the first climb of the day, the Vigolo Vattaro. The Vigolo Vattaro lies in the mountains surrounding Trento and climbs for 10.42 kilometers at an average gradient of 5% (maximum, 7.8%). Just a sign of what is to come, this climb serves to whet the appetite. After a brief descent, it's all climbing to the finish of this stage.
Gilberto Simoni will certainly be smiling today, as the race travels his home roads and into his favorite terrain. The road traces a long, gradual climb through the forested lower slopes of Trentino's mountains, before finishing on the Alpe di Pampeago, a short, steep bit of uphill nastiness. The Pampeago is deceptively brief, just 9 kilometers, but it boasts an average gradient of 8.7%, and a maximum gradient of 16%. Only the pure climbers will enjoy this one.
The stage commemorates the 1999 victory of Marco Pantani in Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia. Two days later, the UCI ejected Pantani from the race after a blood test showed a hematocrit above 50 percent. Ivan Gotti went on to win that year's Giro. Gilberto Simoni finished second on the Pampeago in 1999, just over a minute behind Pantani. Four years later, Gilberto Simoni got his chance to celebrate victory in front of his local fans when the Giro d'Italia visited the Pampeago again in 2003. The climber from nearby Palu di Giove beat Stefano Garzelli by 35 seconds. They will meet again on the Pampeago in this year's Giro del Trentino.
Stage 3. The route slip calls for more climbing during the third stage, which begins in Tesero and travels to Innervillgraten in the East Tirol region of Austria. In between lies the Gruppo del Sella, the group of peaks in the Dolomiti which includes the Passo Sella and the Passo Pordoi. The riders will climb two peaks in the Gruppo del Sella, the Passo Sella and the Passo Gardena. The Passo Sella covers 11.5 kilometers, climbs 758 meters, and has an average gradient of 6.6%. The maximum is approximately 8 percent, about half as steep as the Pampeago.
From the summit of the Passo Sella, the riders descent 5 kilometers before facing the next climb of the day, the Passo Gardena. Fortunately, the Gardena is short with a relatively gentle gradient, only 6 kilometers averaging 6 percent. After descending the Passo Gardena, the course follows a series of Alpine valleys, passing through Brunico. There is 25 kilometers of downhill false flat after climbing the Sella and the Gardena.
With 60 kilometers to go, the course turns ever so slightly uphill, and the riders will grind up a 2 percent gradient until they reach the town of Silien. The last 15 kilometers climb with an average gradient of 3 percent into Innervillgraten, a picture-book Tyrol town tucked between the steep slopes of the Alps. The finish is uphill.
The climbs come early in this stage, offering the chance for many riders to return to the field before the finish. Perhaps a break will survive to celebrate victory in Austria, but it's more likely that a sizeable group will contest the finish.
Stage 4. For stage 4, the race departs from Sillian in the East Tyrol and re-traces its steps back into Italy to finish at Pejo Fonti. For the first 125 kilometers, the terrain is mostly flat, and the course steadily descends in altitude. Then, it's back into the mountains. The main climb of the day is the Passo Mendola, which climbs 14.8 kilometers and has an average gradient of 6.5%. Cut into the side of the mountain, which rises at a near-verticle pitch from the valley floor, the road serpentines to the summit.
After 14.8 kilometers of climbing, the riders pass through the ski town at the summit of the Passo Mendola, and begin their descent. There follows 30 kilometers of descending at approximately 3%. But again, the road turns upward, beginning a gradual climb to the finish in the tree-lined Alpine town of Pejo Fonti. Fittingly, the stage ends on a 10 kilometer climb, though it isn’t steep at only 4%. Still, allow me to state the obvious: A climber will win in Pejo Fonti.
Parting Shots
The Giro del Trentino favors the climbers, and the winner will come from their ranks. Trentino is often seen as a predictor for the Giro: Damiano Cunego won here before his break-out Giro victory in 2004. At the same time, the Giro favorites, like Ivan Basso, will likely want to hold something in reserve for the big show in May. It would be a fitting celebration of his career, if Gilberto Simoni took out one last win for the home crowd. This year marks the finale of his lengthy career (unless he changes his mind), and this Giro del Trentino with its relentless climbing suits him to perfection. Forza Gibo! — Gavia
From the 1999 Giro d'Italia, video of the finishing climb up Alpe di Pampeago where Pantani and Simoni finished first and second. |
That's moi with Trento's, Francisco Moser, at the top of his favorite local climb in 2002. Moser's oldest brother, Enzo, was the first GdT winner back in 1962 when it was a single day race. Francisco won it twice in the 1980s. (enlarge photo) |
The Giro del Trentino normally overlaps with the 2.HC Tour de Georgia in the U.S. which has been cancelled for 2009. So, one would expect a banner line-up for this year's Giro del Trentino. In fact, as I found out today from John Calliott's twitter, French press is reporting, via Astana's spokesman Phillip Maertens, that Lance Armstrong will take part in this year's Giro del Trentino. This makes sense in lieu of Lance's upcoming Giro d'Italia appearance and the cancellation of the Tour de Georgia back in the U.S. By the way, Ivan Basso will be at the 2009 Giro del Trentino as well. — Steve
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