Stefano Garzelli

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Stefano Garzelli

Garzelli at the 2007 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full name	Stefano Garzelli
Date of birth	July 16, 1973 (1973-07-16) (age 34)
Country	Italy
Team information
Current team	Acqua & Sapone- Caffè Mokambo
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
1997–2000 2001–2002 2003–2004 2005–2006 2007–	Mercatone Uno Mapei-Quick Step Vini Caldirola Liquigas Acqua & Sapone- Caffè Mokambo
Major wins
Giro d'Italia (2000), 7 stages Tour de Suisse (1998)
Infobox last updated on:
March 16, 2008

Stefano Garzelli (born July 16, 1973, in Varese) is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The high point of his career to date was his stirring overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-way competition with Gilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande.

Contents 1 Career 2 Palmares 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Career

He started out as being a domestique for Marco Pantani but proved in 2000 that he deserved much more. When "The Pirate" lacked form in the beginning of the 2000 Giro, Garzelli was left free of all team duties for Mercatone Uno, and was able to fight and win his own battle in the Giro. In the final time-trial stage Garzelli took the race leadership away from Casagrande, who was suffering an inflamed sciatic nerve. Casagrande was devastated, and Garzelli dedicated his win to Pantani.

He is a versatile rider with qualities that include decent sprinting, decent time trials and some good skills in the mountains. Without being a great attacker, Garzelli is very constant and, on a good day, he can go with the best climbers.

After his win of the 2000 Giro d'Italia he was recruited by the Italian super-team Mapei in 2002, aiming to repeat his 2000 Giro success. The start of the season showed promise, with Garzelli being a key player in teammate Paolo Bettini's win in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with Garzelli himself finishing second. The finale of the race saw Bettini and Garzelli make tactical moves to benefit from each others' aggressions and saw them finish the race with a comfortable margin to decide the win amongst themselves.

However, Garzelli was caught in the 2002 doping scandal in the Giro d'Italia, and was forced out of the race. Many believe that the circumstances of his suspension prompted the Mapei boss Giorgio Squinzi to terminate his sponsorship of the team at the end of the year. "The exclusion of Garzelli, who tested positive for a masking agent, wasn't a normal thing. At the start nothing was found. Later, as soon as he won a stage, a forbidden substance came out all of a sudden. That's bizarre," said Squinzi in an interview.

Garzelli was able to mount a come-back for the 2003 Giro d'Italia and was able to challenge eventual winner Gilberto Simoni in the race. He currently rides for Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo.

[edit] Palmares

[edit] References

• Cyclingnews.com 2002 Mapei feature
• Giorgio Squinzi: Mapei's anti-doping crusader
• Palmarès at Trap-Friis.dk

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ivan Gotti	Winner of the Giro d'Italia 2000	Succeeded by Gilberto Simoni

v • d • e Riders on Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo Dario Andriotto | Alexander Arekeev | Gabriele Balducci | Stefano Cavallari | Massimo Codol | Francesco Di Paolo | Alessandro Donati | Francesco Failli | Stefano Garzelli | Massimiliano Gentili | Andrea Masciarelli | Francesco Masciarelli | Simone Masciarelli | Diego Milán | Giuseppe Palumbo | Luca Paolini | Andrea Rossi | Branislau Samoilau | Manager: Palmiro Masciarelli

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

Persondata
NAME	Garzelli, Stefano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH	1973-07-16
PLACE OF BIRTH	Varese, Italy
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH