2000 83rd Tour of Italy : Giro d’Italia

“Second only to the Tour de France in size and prestige, the Tour of Italy is one of the world's biggest annual sporting events and remains one of cycling's all time greatest races. This is the 83rd edition of the race, which started in 1909 to publicise the Italian sport's newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport whom still sponsor the race today. This year's edition covers 3,707km in 22 stages starting on the 13th of May with a Prologue Time Trial in the Italian capital Rome, with the finish line in St Peter's Square in the Vatican to celebrate the Catholic jubilee, and finishes just over 3 weeks later on the 4th of June in Milan. The Linda McCartney Foods Pro Cycling Team have become the first British team in history to start the Giro d'Italia, and the first for 13 years to take on one of the great tours.” - from the PR Officer for the team

The Route

South down the east coast from Rome then back up the west coast as a warm-up before the big climbs. Across the central hills twice before the northern mountain stages from east to west then the finish in Milan.

All within Italy - except for the historic route across the mountains into Briancon; scene of some epic victories in both the Giro and the Tour de France.

The Riders

Team Polti 1 Ivan Gotti (Ita), 2 Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned), 3 Enrico Cassani (Ita), 4 Daniel Clavero Sebastian (Spa), 5 Silvio Martinello (Ita), 6 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita), 7 Oscar Pelliccioli (Ita), 8 Jose Manuel Uria Gonzalez (Spa), 9 Bart Voskamp (Ned)

Amica Chips-Tacconi Sport 11 Mauro Gerosa (Ita), 12 Ivan Basso (Ita), 13 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita), 14 Diego Ferrari (Ita), 15 Vitali Kokorine Rus), 16 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita), 17 Filippo Simeoni (Ita), 18 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda), 19 Oscar Pozzi (Ita)

Banesto 21 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol), 22 Candido Barbosa (Por), 23 Thomas Brozyna (Pol), 24 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita), 25 Eladio Jimenez Sanchez (Spa), 26 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa), 27 Unai Osa Eizaguirre (Spa), 28 Orlando Gomes Rodrigues (Por), 29 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita)

Cantina Tollo 31 Danilo Di Luca (Ita), 32 Cristian Gasperoni (Ita), 33 Moreno di Bease (Ita), 34 Massimo Giunti (Ita), 35 Giampaolo Mondini (Ita), 36 Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita), 37 Andrea Tonti (Ita), 38 Guido Trenti (USA), 39 Marco Vergnani (Ita)

Ceramica Panaria-Gaerne 41 Niklas Axelsson (Swe), 42 Vladimir Douma (Ukr), 43 Tom Leaper (Aus), 44 Enrico Degano (Ita), 45 Domenico Romano (Ita), 46 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex), 47 Luca Cei (Ita), 48 Antonio Varriale (Ita), 49 Yaugeni Seniuskin (Blr)

Farm Frites 51 Miquel Van Kessel (Ned), 52 Servais Knaven (Ned), 53 Michel Lafis (Swe), 54 Robbie McEwen (Aus), 55 Koos Moerenhout (Ned), 56 Wim Vansevenant (Bel), 57 Martin Van Steen (Ned), 58 Justin Spinelli (USA), 59 Pieter Vries (Ned)

Fassa Bortolo 61 Fabio Baldato (Ita), 62 Wladimir Belli (Ita), 63 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita), 64 Marco Fincato (Ita), 65 Dario Frigo (Ita), 66 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus), 67 Andrea Peron (Ita), 68 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita), 69 Matteo Tosatto (Ita)

Kelme-Costa Blanca 71 Jose Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa), 72 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa), 73 Jose Joaquim Castelblanco (Col), 74 Felix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col), 75 Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Spa), 76 Juan José De Los Angeles (Spa), 77 Ricardo Ochoa (Spa), 78 Jose Javier Gomez Gonzalo (Spa), 79 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa)

La Francaise Des Jeux 81 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita), 82 Grzegorz Gwiazdowski (Pol), 83 Yvon Ledanois (Fra), 84 Bradley McGee (Aus), 85 Franck Perque (Fra), 86 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra), 87 Daniel Schnider (Swi), 88 Jean Michel Tessier (Fra), 89 Jimmy Casper (Fra)

Lampre-Daikin 91 Gilberto Simoni (Ita), 92 Sergio Barbero (Ita), 93 Massimo Codol (Ita), 94 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel), 95 Simone Bertoletti (Ita), 96 Marco Della Vedova (Ita), 97 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita), 98 Mariano Piccoli (Ita), 99 Jan Svorada (Cze)

Linda McCartney Racing Team 101 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr), 102 Pascal Richard (Swi), 103 Tayeb Braikia (Den), 104 Bjornar Vestol (Nor), 105 Ciaran Power (Irl), 106 Maurizio De Pasquale (Ita), 107 David McKenzie (Aus), 108 Matthew Stephens (GBr), 109 Benjamin Brooks (Aus)

Liquigas-Pata 111 Stefano Cattai (Ita), 112 Daniele Contrini (Ita), 113 Cristiano Frattini (Ita), 114 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr), 115 Cristián Moreni (Ita), 116 Davide Rebellin (Ita), 117 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita), 118 Denis Zanette (Ita), 119 Marco Zanotti (Ita)

Mapei-Quickstep 121 Davide Bramati (Ita)122 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita)123 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) 124 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita)125 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) 126 William Chann McRae (USA)127 Andrea Noe' (Ita) 128 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) 129 Axel Merckx (Bel)

Mercatone Uno-Albacom 131 Stefano Garzelli (Ita)132 Daniele De Paoli (Ita)133 Marco Velo (Ita)134 Enrico Zaina (Ita)135 Ermanno Brignoli (Ita)136 Simone Borgheresi (Ita)137 Riccardo Forconi (Ita)138 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita)139 Marco Pantani (Ita)

Mobilvetta Design-Rossin 141 Eugeni Berzin (Rus) 142 Filippo Baldo (Ita) 143 Ivan Quaranta (Ita) 144 Mirko Gualdi (Ita) 145 Mario Manzoni (Ita) 146 Milan Kadlec (Cze) 147 Graziano Recinella (Ita) 148 Paolo Valoti (Ita) 149 Alberto Ongarato (Ita)

Aguardiente Nectar-Selle Italia 151 Jose "Chepe" Gonzalez (Col), 152 Hernan Buenahora Gutierrez (Col),  153 Raul Alexander Montana (Col), 154 Fredy Gonzalez Martinez (Col),  155 Ruben Marin (Col) 156 Andris Nauduzas (Lat) 157 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) 158 Alessio Girelli (Ita) 159 Leonardo Scarselli (Ita)

Rabobank 161 Niki Aebersold (Swi) 162 Erik Dekker (Ned) 163 Coen Boerman (Ned) 164 Steven de Jongh (Ned) 165 Addy Engels (Ned) 166 Karsten Kroon (Ned) 167 Matthé Pronk (Ned) 168 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) 169 Marcel Duijn (Ned)

Saeco-Valli & Valli 171 Mario Cipollini (Ita) 172 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) 173 Giuseppe Calcaterra (Ita) 174 Alessio Galletti (Ita) 175 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) 176 Dario Pieri (Ita) 177 Biagio Conte (Ita) 178 Mario Scirea (Ita) 179 Francesco Secchiari (Ita)

Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 181 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) 182 Massimo Donati (Ita) 183 Roberto Conti (Ita) 184 Mauro Zanetti (Ita) 185 Marco Milesi (Ita) 186 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) 187 Matthew White (Aus) 188 Filippo Casagrande (Ita) 189 Ruggero Borghi (Ita)

Vitalicio Seguros-Generali 191 Elio Aggiano (Ita) 192 Santiago Blanco Gil (Spa) 193 Luis Oran Castaneda Ramos (Col) 194 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) 195 Jan Hruska (Cze) 196 Alvaro Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa) 197 Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Spa) 198 Ivan Ramiro Parra Pinto (Col) 199 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col)

Part 2 >>>

Book Resume
It was the biggest cycling team ever seen in Britain, supported by one of the world's most famous names. They took on the old-school Europeans in their own backyard, pushing a huge wave of support and excitement before them as they shook the foundations of one of the world's most traditional sports. Then, on the brink of greatness, the house of cards folded.
Now, for the first time, the full inside story of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team can be told. Peaks and troughs, mood swings and wheel spins, millionaires and bankrupts, they're all there. You can read the truth about the stars, water-carriers and fixers that make cycling such an enthralling game.
Team on the Run is the unique story of how the most famous vegetarian in the world came to sponsor the world's only vegetarian professional sporting team. Hear about how a small-time British outfit grew so quickly they elbowed their way into the Tour of Italy, putting a fair few Roman noses out of joint before returning home with a share of the spoils. Then delve into the mystery of how a team personally funded and endorsed by one of the world's richest men could dissolve into thin air virtually overnight, millions in the red.
Taking an anecdotal ride from the team's birth in 1998 to its spectacular implosion in 2001, you will be able to picture Sir Paul McCartney knocking out a quick 'Lady Madonna' for the boys on his 'old Joanna’ and David McKenzie making the whole of Italy choke on its prosciutto and cabbage, until the boys limp home battered, bruised and penniless when the well runs dry.
Written by the team's press officer, John Deering, Team on the Run provides a revealing glimpse into the machinations and eye-popping realities of the cycling merry-go-round.
John Deering has written for Procycling and Ride magazines and contributed regularly to Eurosport's cycling coverage. He was into his third year as the Linda McCartney team's press officer at the time of their spectacular implosion, giving him a perfect viewpoint for this highly personalised account.
 Check out Amazon for - Team on the Run: The Inside Story of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team