Felice Gimondi was an Italian professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the second cyclist to win all three Grand Tours of road cycling: Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España (1968). He is one of only seven cyclists to have done so.
Ivan Basso is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1999 and 2015 for seven different teams. Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, was considered among the best mountain riders in the professional field in the early 21st century, and was considered one of the strongest stage race riders. He is a double winner of the Giro d'Italia, having won the race in 2006 for Team CSC and 2010 for Liquigas–Doimo.
Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships. He is nicknamed Il Grillo for his repeated sudden attacks and his sprinting style.
The Giro di Lombardia, officially Il Lombardia, is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycling, and one of the last events on the UCI World Tour calendar. Nicknamed the Classica delle foglie morte, it is the most important Autumn Classic in cycling. The race's most famous climb is the Madonna del Ghisallo in the race finale.
Damiano Cunego is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2018 for the Saeco, Lampre–Merida and Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini teams.
Gilberto Simoni is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, most recently for Lampre–Farnese Vini. Simoni is twice winner of the Giro d'Italia cycling race. Simoni might have won a third Giro, but in 2002 he tested positive for cocaine and was withdrawn from the race by his Saeco team – he was later cleared of any doping violation by the Italian Cycling Federation. Aside from this incident in 2002 he finished on the podium in every other Giro between 1999 and 2006.
Saeco was the name of an Italian road bicycle racing team, sponsored by the company with the same name. They rode on Cannondale bicycles.
Davide Rebellin was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1992 and 2022 for twelve different teams, taking more than sixty professional wins. He was considered one of the finest classics specialists of his generation with more than fifty top ten finishes in UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour classics.
Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the Euskaltel–Euskadi and BMC Racing Team squads. He was the gold medal winner in the road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the following years Sánchez proved himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton. He was also known as one of the best descenders in the peloton. He finished in the top 6 of the Tour de France three times and in the top 10 of the Vuelta a España 6 times. Other notable achievements include winning the Vuelta a Burgos in 2010, the 2012 Tour of the Basque Country and five stages of the Vuelta a España.
Philippe Gilbert is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour.
Vincenzo Nibali is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who has won all three of cycling's Grand Tours in their career – having won the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2013 Giro d'Italia, the 2014 Tour de France and the 2016 Giro d'Italia.
Gianbattista Baronchelli is an Italian retired professional road racing cyclist (1974–1989). He obtained a total of 94 victories.
The 2007 Giro di Lombardia is the 101st edition of this single day road bicycle racing monument race. The 242 km event took place on 20 October 2007 and was won by Damiano Cunego, the Italian rider for Lampre–Fondital in 5 hours, 52 minutes 48 seconds at an average speed of 41.16 km/h.
Mauro Santambrogio is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Continental team Amore & Vita–Selle SMP.
Daniel Moreno Fernández is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018 for the Relax–GAM, Omega Pharma–Lotto, Team Katusha, Movistar Team and EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale teams. He specialised in mountain and high-mountain races along with Grand Tours like the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, winning three stages of the latter in 2011 and 2013.
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.
The 2012 Amstel Gold Race was the 47th running of the Amstel Gold Race, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 15 April 2012 over a distance of 256.5 kilometres and was the eleventh race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The 2012 Giro di Lombardia or 2012 Il Lombardia was the 106th edition of the Giro di Lombardia single-day cycling race, often known as the Race of the Falling Leaves. It was held on 29 September 2012, over a distance of 251 km (156.0 mi), starting in Bergamo and ending in Lecco. It was the penultimate event of the season in the 2012 UCI World Tour. The very steep climb Muro di Sormano returned to the route during the 2012 edition after an absence of fifty years and was situated before the Madonna del Ghisallo climb. Joaquim Rodríguez won the race after a solo breakaway initiated on the final climb of the day. He became the first Spaniard to win this Classic.
The 2015 Il Lombardia was a one-day cycling classic that took place around Lake Como in Lombardy in northern Italy on 4 October 2015. It was the 109th edition of the Il Lombardia one-day cycling race and was the final cycling monument of the 2015 season, as well as being the final race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race was organised by RCS Sport, who also organise the Giro d'Italia.
The 2004 Giro di Lombardia was the 98th edition of the Giro di Lombardia cycle race and was held on 16 October 2004. The race started in Mendrisio and finished in Bergamo. The race was won by Damiano Cunego of the Saeco team.
