GIRO EXCLUSIVE - Scarponi: Now I want to win the Giro on the road!

Michele Scarponi very confident before the
start of the stage. This year he wants to win
Giro d'Italia on the roads - not on paper!

Being the second best rider in the Giro last year everybody now points at Michele Scarponi as the big favorite for the overall win. Scarponi himself though makes sure to point out that there are many other riders able to win this year.

“I don’t think there is one rider who is a bigger favorite than the others. There are 5-6-7 riders including Basso, Rodriguez, Kreuziger & Schleck who can win this race. It’s a very open Giro this time”.

Two days before the start of the Giro d’Italia 2012, Michele Scarponi officially won the Giro last year when he was rewarded with the pink jersey and the big trophy. This year Scarponi wants to show the world that he can win the Giro on the road as well and not only on paper.

“Everybody knows what happened last year, there is no reason to discuss that any further. Alberto Contador is my friend and to me Alberto will always be the winner of the Giro d’Italia 2011. This time I would love to win the race for real - on the road where it counts”.

To help him do just that, Scarponi can count on team mate and former Giro d’Italia winner Damiano Cunego.

“I think it will be very important that we have two strong riders in the team. I have a real champion like Damiano by my side and I’m sure we can use that tactically in the mountains. I’m going for the overall classification and then we will see what Damiano can do. For sure we have good chances to do something big in this Giro”.