 Danilo Di Luca defends his 2007 Giro crown |
The Giro d'Italia - the Tour of Italy - usually known simply as the Giro, is second only to the Tour de France in the hierarchy of cycling's road stage races.Although not as iconic as its elder French cousin, the Giro is one third of cycling's "Triple Crown", along with Le Tour and the Road World Championships. It is also one of the sport's three annual Grand Tours, completed by the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana, or Tour of Spain. First held in 1909, the Giro is now in its 91st edition, and the 2008 version will see 22 teams of nine riders - 198 in total - cover 3,473km over 21 stages in pursuit of the maglia rosa - the pink jersey. After a 23.6km team time trial around Palermo in Sicily, the race heads north via Rome, Tuscany and the central Apennines before the decisive stages in the Dolomites and Alps. The Giro begins in Palermo on Saturday 10 May and ends in Milan on Sunday 1 June.  | 606: DEBATE |
The star-studded line-up, which includes the winners of the 2007 Giro, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, and the Olympic and World Champion, is stronger than the current Tour de France start-list. Until recently, however, most of the smart money had been on another home win, after Danilo Di Luca dominated the 2007 race in the mountain stages. Di Luca has since faced two doping investigations, but was recently cleared by an Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) commission because of insufficient evidence. Two-time Giro winner Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni-Androni) and brash youngster Riccardo Ricco were also names filling many fans' top tips. But the late inclusion of the Astana team has upset the applecart. Thrown out of the 2007 Tour de France and subsequently barred from the Vuelta a Espana for doping offences, the disgraced Kazakh outfit has been overhauled by Johan Bruyneel, the Belgian who guided Lance Armstrong to seven Tour victories. The team now includes three riders who could all reasonably be expected to be finish in pink - the 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain, German Andreas Kloden and USA's Levi Leipheimer.
 Mark Cavendish will be competing in the Madison event in Beijing |
Meanwhile, the British contingent sees six riders setting off from Palermo, with differing agendas. Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish (High Road) and Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings (Barloworld) are all primarily using the Giro as vital endurance preparation ahead of the track cycling events at the Beijing Olympics. Cavendish should, however, be a strong contender for a sprint win in one of the flat stages, while Wiggins will be hoping to place highly in the time trials. David Millar (Slipstream) should also feature in the time trials, particularly the opening event, for which his team have been specifically preparing. Last but not least, Charlie Wegelius (Liquigas) will doubtless put in sterling work in support of his team leader, Italian Franco Pellizotti.
Teams AG2R La Mondiale Astana Barloworld Caisse d'Epargne Cofidis CSF Group Navigare Euskaltel-Euskadi Fran�aise des Jeux Gerolsteiner High Road Lampre Liquigas LPR Brakes Quick Step Rabobank Saunier Duval-Scott Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli Silence-Lotto Slipstream Chipotle - H30 Team CSC Team Milram Tinkoff Credit Systems
Stages Stage 1, 10 May, Palermo, Team time trial Stage 2, 11 May, Cefalu to Agrigento, 207km mixed terrain Stage 3, 12 May, Catania to Milazzo, 208km flat Stage 4, 13 May, Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro-Lungomare, 187km flat Stage 5, 14 May, Belvedere Marittimo to Conturso Terme, 170km mixed Stage 6, 15 May, Potenza to Peschichi, 247km mixed Stage 7, 16 May, Vasto to Pescocostanza, 179km mixed Stage 8, 17 May, Rivisondoli to Tivoli, 200km mixed Stage 9, 18 May, Civitavecchia to San Vincenzo , 194km flat 19 May, Rest day Stage 10, 20 May, Pesaro to Urbino, 36km individual time trial Stage 11, 21 May, Urbania to Cesena, 193km mixed Stage 12, 22 May, Forli to Carpi, 171km flat Stage 13, 23 May, Modena to Cittadella, 192km flat Stage 14, 24 May, Verona to Alpe di Pampeago, 195km mountain Stage 15, 25 May, Arabba to Passo Fedaia, 153km mountain Stage 16, 26 May, San Vigilio di Marebbe to Plan de Corones, 13.8km individual time trial with mountain-top finish 27 May, Rest day Stage 17, 28 May, Sondrio to Locarno, 192km mixed Stage 18, 29 May, Mendrisio to Varese, 182km flat Stage 19, 30 May, Legnano to Presolana, 228km mountain Stage 20, 31 May, Rovetta to Tirano, 224km mountain Stage 21, 1 June, Cesano Maderno to Milano, 23.5km individual time trial
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