Paolo Savoldelli is a former Italian road racing cyclist and winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giro d'Italia.
Yaroslav Popovych is a Ukrainian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016.
Daniele Bennati is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the Acqua & Sapone–Cantina Tollo, De Nardi–Colpack, Phonak, Lampre–Fondital, Liquigas–Doimo, RadioShack–Nissan, Tinkoff and Movistar Team squads.
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Strasbourg with a prologue individual time trial on 1 July and Stage 11 occurred on 13 July with a mountainous stage to Val d'Aran in Spain. The race finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, on 23 July.
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Strasbourg with a prologue individual time trial on 1 July and Stage 12 occurred on 14 July with a hilly stage from Bagnères-de-Luchon. The race finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, on 23 July.
The 2006 edition of the men's UCI Road World Championships Road Race took place on September 24, 2006, in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Reigning Olympic champion and Italian Paolo Bettini captured the gold medal and the rainbow jersey as the 2006 World Cycling Champion. The 36-year-old German sprinter Erik Zabel took the silver medal and UCI ProTour winner Alejandro Valverde of Spain captured third place for the bronze medal. A total of 136 cyclists actually finished the race, with Slovakia's Roman Broniš in last place.
The 2007 Volta a Catalunya was the 87th edition of the Volta a Catalunya road cycling race, which took place from 21 May to 27 May 2007, in Catalonia. The race began in Salou with a team time trial and ended in Barcelona. The race was won by Russian Vladimir Karpets of the Caisse d'Epargne team, who won the race thanks to winning the team time trial, and second placings on the toughest mountain stage and the mountain time trial. The race also saw the first UCI ProTour victories for young British sprinter Mark Cavendish of the T-Mobile Team, when he took stages 2 and 6.
The 2007 Eneco Tour road cycling race took place from 22 to 29 August. The third edition of the Eneco Tour covered parts of the Netherlands and Belgium. Instead of 23 teams like before, only 21 teams take part in the race this year. Of the 20 UCI ProTour teams, only Astana chose not to take part. The teams Chocolade Jacques–Topsport Vlaanderen and Skil–Shimano were each given a wild card.
The 2008 Tour de Suisse was the 72nd edition of the Tour de Suisse road cycling stage race. The race took place from 14 June to 22 June 2008 and is part of the 2008 UCI ProTour. It began in Langnau im Emmental and ended in Bern. The race was won by Roman Kreuziger.
The 2007 season for the Astana cycling team was its first, though the team's sponsors in the Kazakhstani government had entered the sport the year before backing the dissolved Liberty Seguros team. That same team was known as "Astana" for part of the season, including the 2006 Vuelta a España, but as the UCI license previously held by Manolo Saiz transferred to new ownership, headquartered in a new nation, it is considered a new team from 2007 onward. The team's manager for the 2007 season was former Tour de Suisse organizer Marc Biver, who had never before managed a cycling team at any level.
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 2012 Tour de Romandie was the 66th running of the Tour de Romandie cycling stage race. It started on 24 April in Lausanne and ended on 29 April in Crans-Montana and consisted of six stages, including a race-commencing prologue stage and a race-concluding individual time trial. It was the 14th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The 2015 Giro d'Italia was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in May 2015. It was the 98th running of the Giro d'Italia and took place principally in Italy, although some stages visited France and Switzerland. The 3,481.8-kilometre (2,163.5 mi) race included 21 stages, beginning in San Lorenzo al Mare on 9 May and concluding in Milan on 31 May. It was the fifteenth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The Giro was won by Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), with Fabio Aru (Astana) second and Aru's teammate Mikel Landa third.
The 2015 Paris–Nice was the 73rd edition of the Paris–Nice stage race. It took place from 8 to 15 March and was the second race of the 2015 UCI World Tour following the Tour Down Under. The race was a return to the traditional format of Paris−Nice after an unorthodox course in 2014. It started in Yvelines, west of Paris, with a prologue time trial; the course then moved south through France with several stages suitable for sprinters. The decisive part of the race began on stage four with a summit finish at the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret; stage six also had a mountainous route. The race ended after seven days with the climb of the Col d'Èze outside Nice.
The 2015 Tour de Romandie was the 69th edition of the Tour de Romandie stage race. It took place from 28 April to 3 May and was the fourteenth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race took place around the Romandy region of Switzerland, starting in Lac de Joux and finishing in Lausanne. The race included six stages, with a team time trial at the beginning and an individual time trial at the end with four hilly or mountainous stages in between. The queen stage was the fifth stage, which finished on the climb above Champex.
The 2016 Tour de Romandie was a road cycling stage race that took place in the Romandie region of Switzerland between 26 April and 1 May 2016. It was the 70th edition of the Tour de Romandie cycling stage race and the 14th event in the 2016 UCI World Tour. The defending champion was Team Katusha's Ilnur Zakarin.
The 2016 Volta a Catalunya was a road cycling stage race that took place in Catalonia, Spain, from 21 to 27 March. It was the fifth race of the 2016 UCI World Tour and the 96th edition of the Volta a Catalunya.
The 2017 Tour de Romandie was a road cycling stage race that took place between 25 and 30 April in Romandie, Switzerland. It was the 71st edition of the Tour de Romandie and the nineteenth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.
