The 2004 Giro d'Italia was the 87th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Genoa with a 6.9 km (4.3 mi) prologue. The race came to a close with a 133 km (82.6 mi) mass-start road stage that stretched from Clusone to Milan. Nineteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Damiano Cunego of the Saeco team. Second and third were the Ukrainian Serhiy Honchar and Italian Gilberto Simoni.
The 2005 Giro d'Italia was the 88th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Reggio Calabria with a 1.15 km (0.7 mi) prologue. The race came to a close with a 119 km (73.9 mi) mass-start road stage that stretched from Albese con Cassano to Milan. Twenty two teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Paolo Savoldelli of the Discovery Channel team. Second and third were the Italian Gilberto Simoni and Venezuelan José Rujano.
The 2005 ProTour was the first year of the newly introduced UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. In certain ways the ProTour replaced the UCI Road World Cup series of one-day races, which in 2004 was won by one-day specialist Paolo Bettini for the third time in a row. The beginning of the ProTour saw difficult negotiations with the organizers of the Grand Tours, the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España.
The 2003 Giro d'Italia was the 86th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro began in Lecce with a 201 km (125 mi) mass-start stage. The race came to a close with a 33 km (21 mi) individual time trial that began and ended in the Italian city of Milan. Nineteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Gilberto Simoni of the Saeco team. Second and third were the Italian Stefano Garzelli and Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych.
The 2006 Giro d'Italia was the 89th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in the Belgian city of Seraing with a 6.2 km (3.9 mi) individual time trial. The race came to a close with a 140 km (87.0 mi) mass-start road stage that stretched from Museo del Ghisallo to Milan. Twenty two teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Ivan Basso of the Team CSC team. Second and third were the Spain José Enrique Gutiérrez and Italian Gilberto Simoni.
The 2000 Giro d'Italia was the 83rd edition of the Giro. It began with a 4.6 km (3 mi) prologue that navigated through the Italian capital Rome. The race came to a close on June 4 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Twenty teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Stefano Garzelli of the Mercatone Uno–Albacom team. Second and third were the Italian riders Francesco Casagrande and Gilberto Simoni.
The 2007 Giro d'Italia was the 90th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place from 12 May to 3 June 2007. The race began in Sardinia and finished in Milan, and featured five mountain top finishes, of which one was an individual time trial. The race also visited France and Austria in three stages.
The 1999 Giro d'Italia was the 82nd edition of the Giro. It began on May 15 with a mass-start stage that stretched from Agrigento to Modica. The race came to a close on June 6 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Eighteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Ivan Gotti of the Team Polti team. Second and third were the Italians riders Paolo Savoldelli and Gilberto Simoni. Marco Pantani is credited with four high mountain stage victories.
The 2009 Giro d'Italia began on 9 May, with Stage 11 occurring on 20 May. The first stage, like it had been since 2007, was a team time trial, a stage where each member of the team raced together against the clock. Like most cycling Grand Tours do, the beginning of the 2009 Giro included a string of flat stages that were contested by sprinters. These stages were contested by Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Cavendish, among others, with Petacchi in victory becoming one of the only riders to defeat Cavendish in a sprint in the 2009 season.
Stage 12 of the 2008 Giro d'Italia took place on May 22, and the race concluded on 1 June. As the second half of the Giro began, Italian national road race champion Giovanni Visconti had been first in the race's overall classification, but stood little chance of winning the race as he did not have sufficient climbing skills to be a contender on the high mountain stages featured in the race's final week. Stages 12 and 13 were flat and did not change the overall standings, but stages 14, 15, 19, and 20 all contained many high climbs.
The 2010 season for the Lampre–Farnese Vini cycling team began in January with the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria and ended in October at the Giro di Lombardia. Though the team holds a valid UCI ProTour license, they were denied ProTour registration in November 2009. The matter remained unresolved at the time of the Tour Down Under, meaning the team missed the first major race of the season, but during January the UCI issued a temporary licence as a member of the ProTour until the end of March. Full license rights were restored at the end of March.
Stage 12 of the 2007 Giro d'Italia took place on 24 May; the race concluded on 3 June. The second half of the Giro began with a challenging mountain stage that finished outside Italy, the first of three stages in this Giro that did so. This stage resulted in the race lead transferring from Andrea Noè to his teammate and team leader Danilo Di Luca, who did not relinquish this lead and finished the race as its champion.
The 2007 Giro d'Italia began on 12 May, with Stage 11 occurring on 23 May. The route began in Caprera in Sardinia, with the first three stages being held on the island. These were followed by an unusually early rest day to transfer to Italy's mainland.
Stage 12 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia took place on 20 May in Città Sant'Angelo, and the race concluded with stage 21 in Verona on 30 May. Seven of the last ten stages in the race contained mountain climbs, including the uphill individual time trial to Plan de Corones four days before the end of the race. The last eight stages were clustered in northeast Italy, with six summit finishes among them.
The 2006 Giro d'Italia began on 6 May in Seraing in Belgium, and stage 11 occurred on 18 May in Pontedera. As is usually the case in a Grand Tour, the first half of the race was considerably easier than the second half – both rest days occurred before the halfway point, and there were no mountain stages or stages ending with climbs among the first eleven.
The 2011 Giro d'Italia began on 7 May, and stage 11 occurred on 18 May. The 2011 edition commemorated the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. The majority of the race, and the entire first half, was situated entirely within Italy without visiting any other nations. The race commenced with a team time trial, an event where each member of a team starts together racing against the clock. The stage provided for the first two race leaders, members of the winning HTC–Highroad team.
The 2005 Giro d'Italia was the 88th edition of the cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro began in Reggio Calabria with a prologue individual time trial on 7 May, and Stage 10 occurred on 18 May with a flat stage to Rossano Veneto. The race finished in Milan on 29 May.
The Giro d'Italia is an annual stage race bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1909 to increase sales of the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport; however it is currently run by RCS Sport. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1909, except when it was stopped for the two world wars. As the Giro gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened, and the peloton expanded from primarily Italian participation to riders from all over the world.
The 2005 season for Quick-Step–Innergetic began in January at the Tour Down Under.
