Bravo Tiralongo!

Tiralongo said that stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia
was good for him and a week later he won it!

Last year Paolo Tiralongo took his first career win when he won stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia and today he doubled that number by beating Michele Scarponi in the sprint and winning stage 7 on Rocca di Cambio.

Before the Giro start in Denmark I talked with Tiralongo (read here) and right before he took off with Astana for the team presentation he told me:

“There are many stages in this Giro that I like. Even the one in L’Aquila suits me well I think”.

And indeed it did. While everybody was expecting team leader Roman Kreuziger to participate in the sprint it was Paolo Tiralongo who went with Michele Scarponi and even managed to beat the fast Italian on the final meters.

One week after picking out this specific stage, Paolo Tiralongo actually won it - Bravo!

NB - Tiralongo actually also named tomorrow's stage to Lago Laceno as a good one for him...2 out of 2?

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”.

Giro Expert Preview - Stage 7

Gianni Savio explains: 

On this stage we will get the first photo of the Giro. We will not see who will win the Giro but we will see who won’t be able to win it. If you get dropped on the last climb you won’t win Giro d’Italia this year. It’s not so hard but it’s the first time the riders will go uphill for so many kilometers and all the favorites will be eager to stay in front. I hope Rujano will be a protagonist on this stage, but as I said it’s not super hard which he prefers. 

The favorites for the stage win must therefore be riders like Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego.

GIRO EXCLUSIVE - Podium and top10 for Astana

Last year Paolo Tiralongo won a mountain stage
in Giro d'Italia and now he hopes to do it again.

After crashing out two years ago, Paolo Tiralongo took a beautiful stage win in the Giro d’Italia last year and now the Italian veteran hopes to do it again. In my own predictions for the overall classification I have Roman Kreuziger to win this Giro but according to Tiralongo it’s the podium that’s the primary target for Astana.

“First of all we are focusing on the podium with Roman. He may have the condition to win overall but I think it’s more realistic to say podium. For me I hope to take another stage win and then hopefully end in the top10 as well. First of all I will have to help Roman though. I will be the last man for him in the mountains and I hope to stay by his side all the time”.

With a lot of strong riders the mountains, Paolo Tiralongo doesn’t hide that Astana aims for more than ‘just’ two riders in the top10.

“Last year we did very well in the team classification [won by 10 minutes to Movistar] and this year we aim to win it again. But it’s not our first goal here. First of all we look at the overall classification and a stage win”.

Giro Expert Preview - Stage 6

Gianni Savio explains:

This could be another stage for the sprinters. There are some hills but they are not so hard yet. That being said, I hope that we will see a break making it to the finish. I’m sure there will be a lot of attacks on the small hills in the final 60 km and maybe a group of 5-6 riders can stay away.

I hope that we [Androni] can take a win like we did last year with Angel Vicioso. This time with Fabio Felline. That would be great!

Giro Expert Preview - Stage 5

Gianni Savio explains:
This stage is made for the sprinters. Simple as that. The break will get away in the beginning of the stage and then it will get caught again before the finish, no big surprises. The favorites are the ones we have seen so far.

This could be for Mark Cavendish again.

GIRO EXCLUSIVE: Modolo: Look out for Pozzovivo!

Modolo hopes to repeat his stage win
from Tour of Turkey in the Giro d'Italia.

Sacha Modolo got hold up by both crashes on stage two and three in this year's Giro d'Italia, but the Italian sprinter still keeps his good spirit.

"I finished Tour of Turkey in a very good way and I have high hopes for this Giro. I see a total of 7 stages that should end with a mass sprint so I still have my chances. I hope to raise my arms as winner of one of the remaining stages".

Today is the day of the team time trial and if the Colnago team can manage to minimize their time loss, Sacha Modolo believes that team leader Domenico Pozzovivo will be a man to fear in the overall classification.

"My favorite for the overall win is Michele Scarponi, but I hope that Pozzovivo will end on the podium. If he does well in the time trials we can expect him do to great things in this Giro!".