Photo: © Aldo di Luca

Vai Dani! The Danilo Di Luca Diary

Italian speedster Danilo Di Luca from the Saeco-Longoni Sport Team is one of the sport's most exciting riders. Never afraid to attack and a very confident rider, Di Luca is at home in both hilly classics and bunch finishes. His first diary for Cyclingnews was during the 2002 the Vuelta a España, where he won a stage and had several top finishes. Di Luca will continue his popular diary entries throughout the 2003 season.

Danilo Di Luca's official website - www.danilodiluca.com

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Home Cooking

March 9, 2003

Hello to all my friends at Cyclingnews! Today I want to tell you about my private life; well as a cyclist anyway... Since I'm at home this week and not racing until Tirreneo-Adriatico, I want to tell you what my typical training day is like.

Friday I left home at 9:30; I live in a town called Spoltore in the southern Italian region of Marche, near the well known city of Pescara. I was planning to do 200km of motor-pacing behind my father Alfredo's car. The first 30km went okay since I was warming up and the weather was nice, then I met up with my father and started my hard training session.

The road surface was not so great but there wasn't much traffic and we were going at a really good speed for a workout and the rhythm of race pace. After a couple of hours, we came to Sulmona in the next province over, Aquila, when we got hit by a thunderstorm. At that point, we had to turn around and go home and I was kind of upset because I had to stop my training session... I was only able to do 135 km.

We got home about 1pm and when I arrived back at my family's place in Spoltore, I jumped in the shower and then had lunch. My mom (hugs & kiss to Mamma Maria!) made pasta with fish for the first course and then broiled sole for the second... she is a great cook! I drank a liter of mineral water and some orange juice with lunch. I think that to have a good diet is very important, in everyday life and especially for an athlete.

Then I flopped down on the couch for a few hours and read an interesting book (history) and after a while, I took an hour's nap. I woke up at 5:30 and here I am.

I'm really looking forward to riding well at Tirreneo-Adriatico; I have a good win already this season, and I have been working hard for this upcoming race.

I'll send another diary during Tirreno!

Ciao
Danilo Di Luca