2005 Giro D'Italia - Race Overview

Race Overview

The Giro began with a 1.15 km (0.7 mi) prologue that navigated through the streets of Reggio Calabria. The event was won by Australian Brett Lancaster who won by a .289 second margin over the second placed rider Matteo Tosatto. After the last competing rider took the course, Mario Cipollini took the course for a final farewell after announcing his retirement ten days before.

At the beginning of the first stage, a four-man breakaway formed and led by almost ten minutes at one point. Thorwald Veneberg was finally captured again about 20 kilometers before the end. However, his efforts paid by giving him the first maglia verde of the Giro. On the last kilometre Paolo Bettini managed to get away on a very steep gradient.

Having been defeated by Paolo Bettini and Robbie McEwen on the previous stage, Italian favourite Alessandro Petacchi failed yet again in the bunch sprint in Santa Maria del Cedro. This time, he claimed, he had been forced to change his direction because of Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu. The stage was won by Robbie McEwen.

Just as in the first stage, the sprinter's teams were not able to stop a break-away in the last kilometres of the race. This time, it was a group of fifty riders which included all the GC important riders. Danilo Di Luca, in a great form in season 2005, beat fellow Italian Damiano Cunego in the sprint for the stage victory.

Paolo Bettini won the sprint at the end which was fought between five cyclists. But in this process he caused Baden Cooke to fall and was declassified because of this. Luca Mazzanti, who came in second, inherited the victory. After the stage, Bettini threatened to abandon the race, but it turned out to be an empty threat.

Danilo Di Luca got his second stage victory in 2005 Giro d'Italia, notching this win ahead of Fassa Bortolo's Marzio Bruseghin. Otherwise, this stage had no important influence on the fight for General Classification.

Just as Danilo Di Luca had done the previous day, Australian Robbie McEwen took his second win in this year's Giro. This time, he did not have to beat Alessandro Petacchi, since the Italian's treno biancoblù de-railed, causing the fall of some of the Fassa Bortolo riders, and forcing "Ale-Jet" to halt to a stop. McEwen's teammate Henk Vogels attacked in the last kilometre, but was surpassed just on the finish line by up to four other cyclists.

After a long break-away, lasting throughout most of the stage, Spaniard Koldo Gil was the first to arrive in the finish line in Pistoia. Damiano Cunego, who was second, leading a pursuing group, celebrated thinking he had won the stage, not knowing that Gil had already taken the victory. Ivan Basso, who had been forced to change his bicycle because of a puncture in the last climb of the day, lost thirty seconds to his rivals for GC.

The eighth stage was a time trial. Danilo Di Luca came in tenth and was able to keep the Maglia Rosa. Otherwise, this stage meant the victory for American David Zabriskie, and the revival of his teammate Ivan Basso, second in the time trial, and who made up for all the time he had lost the day before and even more. On the other hand, this was a very bad day for both Lampre riders; Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni.

Finally, Alessandro Petacchi got his first victory in the 2005 Giro. Paolo Bettini and Swiss Aurélien Clerc had a great performance in this stage, surpassing pure sprinters such as Robbie McEwen or Erik Zabel.

On the stage after the race's first rest day, Robbie McEwen took vengeance on Alessandro Petacchi, in a bunch sprint which had to be solved with the aid of the photo-finish, which determined that the Australian had beaten the Italian by a mere question of millimetres.

Already one kilometer after the start, Benoît Joachim raced away from the field. After about 100 kilometers, shortly after the first mountain standing which Joachim won, he was captured by the field. 26 kilometers before the end, and following an attack by "Gibo" Simoni, Ivan Basso raced away with only very few riders able to keep up. Only Paolo Savoldelli, who had picked up a twenty seconds advantage on the descent and therefore was able to reserve strengths, could stand Basso's rhythm, and he beat the Varesian rider at the summit of Zoldo Alto. Simoni came up 21 seconds later, but defending champion Damiano Cunego lost around six minutes and was ruled out from the list of contenders.

Alessandro Petacchi's efforts during winter, striving to gain ability in the mountains, paid off just as they had done in Milan – San Remo, enabling him to recover from the gruelous Dolomiti stage far better than any of his opponents, and the Italian from Fassa Bortolo sprinted to his second victory in this Giro.

Colombian Iván Parra won the stage in St. Ulrich by breaking ahead of his fellow breakaways on the previous climb. Spaniard Juanma Gárate, fourth in the 2004 Giro d'Italia, came in second. As for the GC, Ivan Basso, with gastrical problems, lost one minute and the maglia rosa to "Il Falco" Paolo Savoldelli.

But it was to be in this 14th stage that Ivan Basso's illness was really going to take its toll. Upon the first gradients of the Stelvio Pass, Cima Coppi of this edition, the Team CSC rider was left behind, unable to react because of his health problems. He lost eighteen minutes to the other GC riders. Savoldelli lost time to Simoni and Di Luca, who arrived in Livigno 3' 15" later than Iván Parra, who scored an impressive Dolomiti double.

This stage, originally 205 kilometres long, was reduced to a length of 154 kilometres due to bad weather conditions at Forcola di Livigno, one of the mountain climbs that the peloton had to go through that day. Alessandro Petacchi, after the abandon of sprinters such as Baden Cooke, Robbie McEwen, Stuart O'Grady or Jaan Kirsipuu, had only Erik Zabel to challenge him, but the Italian's speed was too much for the veteran T-Mobile rider.

After the second rest-day, the peloton did not want to spend too much energies on a flat stage, so it was easy for a break-away of eighteen men to gather an advantage of 10 minutes. Amongst these breakaways, there was Crédit Agricole rider Christophe Le Mével, who outpowered his fellow breakaways to notch up his first pro victory.

Success in stages was limited to ten of the competing teams, six of which achieved multiple stage victories, while five individual riders won multiple stages. The riders that won more than once were Robbie McEwen in stages 2, 6, 10, Danilo di Luca in stages 3 and 5, Alessandro Petacchi in stages 9, 12, 15, and 20, and Iván Parra in stages 13 and 14, and Ivan Basso in stages 17 and 18. Ceramica Panaria-Navigare won two stages, with Brett Lancaster in the prologue and Luca Mazzanti in stage 4. Davitamon-Lotto won three stages with Robbie McEwen. Liquigas-Bianchi won two stages with Danilo di Luca. Team CSC won three stages, with the David Zabriskie in the stage 8 time trial and two stages with Ivan Basso. Fassa Bortolo won four stages with Alessandro Petacchi. Colombia-Selle Italia won three stages, with Iván Parra in two stages and José Rujano in stage 19.

Quick Step-Innergetic, Liberty Seguros-Würth, Discovery Channel, and Crédit Agricole each won one stage at the Giro d'Italia. Quick Step-Innergetic's Paolo Bettini won stage 1 by out-sprinting the rest of the field. Liberty Seguros-Würth rider Koldo Gil won stage 7 by means of a long breakaway. Discovery Channel's Paolo Savoldelli won stage 11 through a last second attack, as did Crédit Agricole rider Christophe Le Mével in stage 16.