5th Brixia Tour - 2.1

Italy, July 22-24, 2005

2004 results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners

The Stages

Stage 1 - July 22: San Vigilio di Concesio - Toscolano Maderno, 170.6 km
Stage 2a - July 23: Esine - Darfo Boario Terme, 112.7 km
Stage 2b - July 23: Pisogne - Val Palot ITT, 12.8 km
Stage 3 - July 24: Brescia - Manerbio, 180 km

Strong line-up for Brixia Tour 2005

The fifth edition of the Brixia Tour "G.P. San Michele Prefabbricati" (July 22-24) was launched yesterday. The short but sharp Italian race, ranked 2.1 in the UCI Europe Tour, is expected to contain a wealth of talent as riders who are not taking part in the Tour de France return to racing after a July break.

Notably, the Brixia Tour should see the return to racing of Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Caffita), provided the 2004 Giro winner has recovered from his current problem with mononucleosis. Cunego's team-mate Gilberto Simoni will also ride, setting up a 'return match' with Giro revelation Venezuelan José Rujano (Colombia - Selle Italia).

Other top riders scheduled to compete in the Brixia Tour include Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Mirko Celestino (Domina Vacanze), Ivan Parra (Colombia - Selle Italia), Giuliano Figueras (Lampre - Caffita) and Igor Astarloa (Barloworld). The Brixia Tour will be the first race in his national tricolour for new Italian champion Enrico Gasparotto (liquigas-Bianchi) and Francesco Casagrande (Naturino - Sapore di Mare) is also rostered to ride, according to the organisers, despite having announced his retirement last month.

With four stages over three days, the Brixia Tour balances the abilities of all-rounders and sprinters. Cadel Evans won the race's first edition back in 2001, while last year Danilo Di Luca took the honours, implying that climbing talent is useful, but the second edition in 2002 went to Igor Astarloa, not known as a mountain specialist.

The climbers will nevertheless like this year's edition with its second half-stage time trial hill climb from Pisogne to Val Palot. It's only 12.8km, but the time difference gained here could be enough to clinch the race for an uphill specialist.

Giuseppe Bresciani, president of organizing body Team Brixia is understandably upbeat about this year's race and the event's future. "This year could put the final seal on the Brixia Tour," he said, "Because of the quality of participants and routes we are approaching a standard worthy of the Pro Tour. This is already a great event but it isn't enough yet: our race can still improve."

Teams

Seventeen teams will take part in the Brixia Tour. Of ProTour squads Domina Vacanze, Fassa Bortolo, Lampre - Caffita, Liquigas - Bianchi and Gerolsteiner are confirmed and organisers expect to see Quick Step - Innergetic too. Continental Pro and Continental teams scheduled to race include Selle Italia - Colombia, Team LPR, Naturino - Sapore di Mare, Acqua&Sapone - Adria Mobil, Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, Team Barloworld - Valsir, Tenax - Nobili Rubinetterie, Miche, Ceramica Flaminia, Team Androni Giocattoli - 3C Casalinghi and Team Universal Caffè - Styloffice.

Start list

Liquigas-Bianchi                       Lampre-Caffita
 
1 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita)              11 Alessandro Ballan (Ita)
2 Andrea Noè (Ita)                     12 Giosuè Bonomi (Ita)
3 Patrick Calcagni (Swi)               13 Damiano Cunego (Ita)
4 Nicola Loda (Ita)                    14 Giuliano Figueras (Ita)
5 Oscar Mason (Ita)                    15 Marco Marzano (Ita)
6 Marco Milesi (Ita)                   16 Gilberto Simoni (Ita)
7 Devis Miorin (Ita)                   17 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol)
8 Marco Zanotti (Ita)                  18 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa)
 
Fassa Bortolo                          Domina Vacanze
 
21 Paolo Bossoni (Ita)                 31 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita)
22 Francesco Chicchi (Ita)             32 Ruggero Borghi (Ita)
23 Massimo Codol (Ita)                 33 Mirko Celestino (Ita)
24 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe)           34 Sergio Ghisalberti (Ita)
25 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)               35 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda)
27 Fabio Sacchi (Ita)                  36 Ivan Quaranta (Ita)
28 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr)            37 Luca Solari (Ita)
                                       38 Giovanni Visconti (Ita)
 
Gerolsteiner                           Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska
 
41 Andrea Moletta (Ita)                51 Jamie Burrow (GBr)
42 Sven Montgomery (Swi)               52 Jonas Holmqvist (Swe)
43 Davide Rebellin (Ita)               53 Dainius Kairelis (Ltu)
45 Marco Serpellini (Ita)              54 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr)
46 Marcel Strauss (Swi)                55 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe)
                                       56 Jakub Lorek (Pol)
                                       57 Mateusz Mroz (Pol)
                                       58 Domenico Passuello (Ita)
 
Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil             Team Barloworld-Valsir
 
61 Alexandr Arekeev (Rus)              71 Pedro Arreitunandia Quintero (Spa)
62 Jure Golcer (Slo)                   72 Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (Spa)
63 Bo Hamburger (Den)                  73 Matteo Carrara (Ita)
64 Valery Kobzarenko (Ukr)             74 Stefano Cavallari (Ita)
65 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita)            75 Enrico Degano (Ita)
66 Simone Masciarelli (Ita)            76 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus)
67 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita)              77 Eddy Serri (Ita)
68 Jure Zrimsek (Slo)                  78 Giulio Tomi (Ita)
 
Ceramica Flaminia                      Colombia-Selle Italia
 
81 Stefano Boggia (Ita)                91 Mariano Giallorenzo (Ita)
82 Francesco Cipolletta (Ita)          92 Marco Gili (Ita)
83 Stefano Guerrini (Ita)              93 Raffaele Illiano (Ita)
84 Massimiliano Martella (Ita)         94 Leonardo Scarselli (Ita)
85 Domenico Quagliariello (Ita)        95 Philippe Schnyder (Swi)
86 Manuele Spadi (Ita)                 96 Russel Van Hout (Aus)
87 Krzysztof Szczawinski (Pol)         97 Trent Wilson (Aus)
88 Maurizio Varini (Ita)               
 
Team L.P.R.                            Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
 
101 Elio Aggiano (Ita)                 111 Ruben Guillermo Bongiorno (Arg)
102 Daniele Contrini (Ita)             112 Paride Grillo (Ita)
103 Daniele De Paoli (Ita)             113 Brett Lancaster (Aus)
104 Ivan Fanelli (Ita)                 114 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr)
105 Luca Nardello (Ita)                115 Luca Mazzanti (Ita)
106 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita)            116 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex)
107 Danilo Napolitano (Ita)            117 Emanuele Sella (Ita)
108 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita)           118 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita)
 
Naturino-Sapore di Mare                Team Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi
 
121 Sergio Barbero (Ita)               131 Paolo Bailetti (Ita)
122 Alessandro Bertuola (Ita)          132 Nicola Scattolin (Ita)
123 Mariano De Fino Silveiro (Bra)     133 Blazej Janiaczyk (Pol)
124 Mario De Sarraga (Ita)             134 Konstantin Klyuev (Rus)
125 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita)          135 Juan Pablo Magallanes Aranda (Mex)
126 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita)           136 Marco Marcato (Ita)
127 Massimiliano Mori (Ita)            137 Massimo Mazzanti (Ita)
128 Antonio Quadranti (Ita)            138 Davide Vigano (Ita)
 
Miche                                  Volksbank Leingruber Ideal
 
141 Leonardo Caneschi (Ita)            151 Fraser Mac Master (NZl)
142 Maurizio Carta (Ita)               152 Tyson Apostol (USA)
143 Antonio D'Aniello (Ita)            153 Pascal Hungerbuhler (Aut)
144 Giairo Ermetti (Ita)               154 Andreas Knapp (Ger)
145 Slawomir Kohut (Pol)               155 Harald Morscher (Aut)
146 Seweryn Kohut (Pol)                156 Thomas Oredsson (Swe)
148 Przemislaw Niemiec (Pol)           
 
Tenax-Nobili Rubinetterie              
 
161 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita)             
162 Scott Davis (Aus)                  
163 Cristiano Frattini (Ita)           
164 Giancarlo Ginestri (Ita)           
165 Timothy Jones (Zim)                
166 Christian Murro (Ita)              
167 Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukr)             
168 Gianluca Tonetti (Ita)

Past winners

2004 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco
2003 Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze
2002 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport
2001 Cadel Evans (Aus) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe
 
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com