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87th Giro d'Italia - Grand Tour
Italy, May 8-30, 2004
Map Stages Stage profile Start List Results
Prologue - May 8: Genova ITT, 6.9 km
Commentary by Jeff Jones, with additional reporting from Tim Maloney
Complete live report
Start time: 16:00 CEST
Estimated finish time: 18:42 CEST
16:19 CEST
Welcome to Cyclingnews.com's coverage of the 87th Giro d'Italia, the first three
week tour of the season. The Giro kicks off with a 6.9 kilometre prologue time
trial in the heart of Genova, in the north west corner of Italy, right on the
Mediterranean Sea. It's a technical stage with more than a dozen corners, but
we can still expect some fast times.
The week's bad weather has cleared out and it's a sunny afternoon here in Genova.
There's a fairly stiff breeze from the southwest which will will make the outbound
leg wind assisted, with a potential headwind on way back. But since the parcours
is mostly in the urban part of Genova, the wind will not play much of a role.
The race starts right under Arco della Vittoria and the Piazza della Vittoria
is filled with all the team cars, buses, and thousands of spectators watching
the riders filter in to start their warm ups.
It looks like a perfect day for Brad McGee (FDJeux.com), who will go off at
18:19 as one of the last riders. There are plenty of other folks in with a chance
such as Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Thomas Vaitkus (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago),
Marco Velo (Fassa Bortolo), Serguei Gontchar (De Nardi) and Juan Carlos Dominguez
(Saunier Duval).
The first rider off was Mario Scirea (Domina Vacanze), who departed at 15:42
CEST. Scirea is also the oldest rider in the race, turning 40 in August this
year. He will be expected to help out Mario Cipollini in the sprinter's stages
next week.
16:29 CEST
Just over 40 of the 169 riders have set off for their ride against the clock
in downtown Genova. Not surprisingly, Australian Brett Lancaster (Panaria) has
set the fastest time so far at 9'10. Lancaster was part of the world record
breaking Australian 4km pursuit team, so he is good over short distances.
But his time hasn't stood for too long, as Estonian Andrus Aug (Domina Vacanze)
has come in 1 second quicker to set the new best time. Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner)
is in third with 9'11.
16:33 CEST
David Dario Cioni (Fassa Bortolo), who rode so well in the Tour de Romandie,
has just come home in 9'03, slashing 7 seconds off Aug's time. He's the new
man in the hot seat.
Thomas Vaitkus (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) is now on the parcours.
16:44 CEST
Cyclingnews spoke to Brett Lancester after his ride today, "Well I felt
alright out there," he said. "I didn't go as fast on the cobbled section as
I could have. It was pretty hard. You have to go really hard in the first half
because it's very technical and very tough. I almost stuffed it in the last
corner but it worked out ok."
After the Giro, Lancaster will be going to Germany to start training for the
Olympics. His teammate Brown is unfortunately back in Australia having achilles
tendon problems.
16:45 CEST
Damiano Cunego is now out on the course, motoring along in the late afternoon
sunshine through the streets of Genova. Cunego is one of the revelations of
the last few weeks, and a lot of people will be watching him in this Giro.
16:47 CEST
Cunego finishes in a time of 9'15, which is not good enough to put him at the
top of the leader board. Meanwhile, Thomas Vaitkus has come home in 9'10, which
will put him in second place behind Cioni on 9'03.
17:01 CEST
Robbie McEwen has just set off for his ride, and the Lotto-Domo captian is straight
into his rhythm.
Marzio Bruseghin (Fassa Bortolo) has beaten his teammate Cioni's time and now
has the new best mark with 9'00. Cioni is second in 9'03, followed by Vaitkus
on 9'10.
17:11 CEST
Our reporter Tim Maloney rode in the Panaria car behind Lancaster earlier today,
and provided us with a more detailed description of the parcours.
The parcours starts in Piazza della Vittoria and then has three quick turns
before heading up on a long uphill drag for the first kilometre on Via XX Settembre.
Then at the top there's a right hand bend that dives down into the city of Genova,
past one of the large fountains that decorates this port city. Then, after a
left hand bend there's a long stretch on pavé - not Belgian style - but large,
irregular pavé in a chevron shape. It's quite bumpy and requires a lot of power.
After a pavé section the left bend dives down and takes the riders along the
sea front into a stiff headwind. This part is along the Via della Mercanzia,
wehre the famous trading houses of Genova are still located.
After going along the sea front for 800m there's a sharp left bend back up into
the town, followed by an uphill on Via San Lorenzo. Some more pavé, then a sharp
right up the long, hard drag up Via Fieschi (8 percent for 700m). That's the
hardest part of the course because you've just battled the wind along the sea
front and you have to hit this climb. It's lined 10 deep with people.
At the top, at the 4.5 km mark, the course reaches Piazza Carignano. That's
the highest point and there's a left bend which takes you back down into the
city centre, completely enclosed. The next part loops back through the town,
completey protected from the wind until the last 1300m. Then it's back onto
the the Via XX Settembre, slightly downhill to the finish. It's a classic prologue
course and very technical.
17:13 CEST
Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner) is now out on the course, motoring along at a good
rate of knots. Or mph or kmh if you are not nautically minded.
17:18 CEST
Pollack is looking smooth as he tackles the toughest part of the course up Via
Fieschi, and is now on his way back down through the town to the finish.
It's still Bruseghin (9'00), Cioni (9'03) and Vaitkus (9'10) with the top three
times.
17:20 CEST
Pollack has absolutely smashed Bruseghin's time, and come home in 8'40! A fantastic
ride by the German, who is a specialist at this sort of discipline.
17:27 CEST
Graziano Gasparre (De Nardi) and Aart Vierhouten (Lotto-Domo) are both out on
the parcours now, and there are 66 riders still to start. We spotted Alessandro
Petacchi warming up, and the Fassa Bortolo sprinter looks focused. He is aiming
to do a fast time today so as to be close to the maglia rosa.
His main rival Mario Cipollini - ever the showman - will be dressed head to
toe in a gothic themed skinsuit. This (apparently) is to commemorate the Giro's
launch in Genova.
17:31 CEST
Massimo Codol passes Gasparre in the final 300m, taking a minute out of the
De Nardi rider. Codol's finishing time is 9'05, which will put him into the
top 10 on the provisional standings, which are still led by Olaf Pollack (8'40).
17:41 CEST
Brett Lancaster's Panaria teammate Scott Davis has set off, followed at one
minute by Ief Verbrugghe (Lotto-Domo), whose brother Rik set the fastest ever
time for a grand tour prologue in Pescara in 2001. Rik's average speed that
year was 58.874 km/h for the 7.6 km race. No chance of anyone beating that today:
Pollack's average speed is 47.8 km/h.
17:50 CEST
Austrian rider Gerhard Trampusch (Acqua e Sapone) is the second rider to go
under nine minutes, clocking 8'54 for the 6.9 km to put him into second place
in the classification behind Pollack, who has the impressive time of 8'40. That
means that Fassa Bortolo's Marzio Bruseghin and Dario Cioni have been bumped
down to third and fourth, while Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Acqua & Sapone) has the fifth
best time with 9'05.
17:55 CEST
Pavel Tonkov (Vini Caldirola) is now on the course, having completed half of
his ride. The Russian is a past winner of the Giro but will probably play a
role as Stefano Garzelli's main helper in this race.
17:58 CEST
Magnus Backstedt (Alessio-Bianchi) has cracked the top five with a time of 9'02,
but it's well off the pace of Pollack.
Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) finished in a time of 9'12, which will put him in
with a shout of the pink jersey.
Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) finishes in a time of 9'16.
18:01 CEST
Tonkov is home in around 9'11, which will put him in the top 20 for now, but
it's not a brilliant time.
Andrea Noe (Alessio-Bianchi) is just about to go. He's not a great rider against
the clock, but he can climb well and is a good GC rider.
18:04 CEST
Gabriele Colombo (Domina Vacanze) crosses the line and checks his time. It's
not great - 9'28 - but it will do. Still Olaf Pollack holds the best time with
8'40. Gerhard Trampusch (Acqua e Sapone) is in second place on 8'54, followed
by Marzio Bruseghin (Fassa Bortolo) on 9'00.
We're down to the last 25 riders now.
18:06 CEST
Mexican climber Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Panaria) crosses the line in 9'45,
which puts him in 114th. Riding against the watch is not his specialty, unless
it's up a mountainside.
Noe is now on the pave section.
18:10 CEST
Ivan Quaranta (Formaggi Pinzolo) is now under way, pedalling a big gear in the
early part of his ride.
Meanwhile, Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJeux.com) has finished in 9'05 - not a bad time
at all.
18:11 CEST
Andrea Noe' finishes in 9'18, which puts him 38 seconds behind Pollack.
18:13 CEST
Here comes Cipo, in his rather...interestingly...themed skinsuit. He's off,
and straight away winds it up.
18:17 CEST
Cipo doesn't look as though he's going that hard, but he is certainly
travelling quickly. His skinsuit has a lion motif in a baroque style.
His main rival Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is just about to set off.
18:20 CEST
And here goes Brad McGee, the big favourite for this stage. The FDJeux.com rider
takes the first three corners well, and is really flying.
18:22 CEST
Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) has just summited the tough Via Fieschi climb, and
is on his way down back to the finish.
Cipo is finishing his ride and it's not bad. He stops the clock at 9'05, just
25 seconds slower than Pollack.
18:27 CEST
McGee is motoring along, and has navigated the first half of the course now.
Meanwhile, Figueras finishes his ride in a time of 9'14, followed by Petacchi
in 9'08. Nice time!
18:28 CEST
Here comes McGee, in the final sraight - he's smashed Pollack's time by 10 seconds!!
8'30 for the Australian and the new best time. That's going to be tough to beat.
18:31 CEST
Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Igor Astarloa (Lampre, not in a world champion's
skinsuit of course) and Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola) are all on the parcours
now, trying to beat McGee's time of 8'30.
Finally, Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) sets off, wearing a pink top and red knicks.
He flies around the first few corners.
18:31 CEST
Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) has done the first half of his ride
now, and is looking quick.
18:33 CEST
The last five riders, Rebellin, Astarloa, Popovych, Garzelli and Simoni are
all on the course now. Simoni is on the long pave section, while Garzelli is
just before the sea front.
18:35 CEST
Garzelli hits the Via Fieschi climb, punching through the crowds as Popovych
finishes in 8'50 - nice ride! That puts him into third overall. "Yes it went
pretty good," Popovych told Cyclingnews after crossing the line. "I'm
kind of surprised actually. Everything was fine except that last corner, but
I'm quite satisfied with my results. We'll see how the others finish."
18:37 CEST
Astarloa is now inside the final kilometre... He stops the clock in 9'21.
After his incredible ride, it was clear that McGee gave it his all. He had to
be picked up and supported and he could hardly talk. But he was clearly pleased
with his effort.
18:38 CEST
Here comes Garzelli, who won't go under the 9 minute mark. His finishing time
is 9'16, which is 26 seconds slower than Popovych (in relation to the GC riders)
and 46 seconds slower than McGee.
18:42 CEST
Simoni is home in a time of 9'05, which will put him just in the top 10 (or
just out of it). He is 15 seconds slower than Popovych and 35 seconds slower
than McGee, who has won the prologue of the Giro d'Italia!
McGee is presented on stage and has his daughter Tahlia with him, who incidentally
is wearing a pink jumper. McGee looks very happy with his maglia rosa!
18:48 CEST
Simoni did a 9'05, but it must have been a "slow" 9'05, as his finishing position
is 15th. So it looks like Popovych (3rd at 8'50) won the battle of the GC riders
in the prologue.
Results
Unofficial 1 Bradley McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 8.30 2 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.10 3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.20 4 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 0.24 5 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.30 6 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.32 7 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 8 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.33 9 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval 0.34 10 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Domina Vacanze 0.35
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