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 Macchine per Caffè team. Second and third were the Ukrainian Serhiy Honchar and Italian Gilberto Simoni.
Mario Cipollini, often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance and his colourful personality. His nicknames include Il Re Leone and Super Mario. He is regarded as the best sprinter of his generation.
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005 and Paris–Tours in 2007. His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.
The Intergiro was a competition in the annual multiple stage bicycle race the Giro d'Italia. It was first introduced in 1989. The calculation for the intergiro is similar to that of the general classification, in each stage there is a midway point that the riders pass through a point and where their time is stopped. As the race goes on, their times compiled and the person with the lowest time is the leader of the intergiro classification and wears the blue jersey.
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 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 Macchine per Caffè team. Second and third were the Italian Stefano Garzelli and Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych.
The 2002 Giro d'Italia was the 85th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro began with a 6.5 km (4 mi) prologue that navigated through the streets of the Dutch city Groningen. The race came to a close with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Twenty-two teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Paolo Savoldelli of the Index Alexia team. Second and third were the American Tyler Hamilton and Italian Pietro Caucchioli.
The 2001 Giro d'Italia was the 84th edition of the Giro. It began with a 7 km (4 mi) prologue that went from Montesilvano to Pescara. The race came to a close on June 10 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Twenty teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Gilberto Simoni of the Lampre–Daikin team. Second and third were the Spanish riders Abraham Olano and Unai Osa.
Matteo Tosatto is an Italian former road racing cyclist. He rode as a professional between 1997 and 2016, with his biggest personal victories coming in stages of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He contested 34 Grand Tours during his career, finishing 28 of them.
Stefano Zanini is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, the leadout man for Liquigas-Bianchi in 2006, after riding for Mapei, Saeco Macchine per Caffè, and Quick-Step.
Fabrizio Guidi is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Guidi won over 40 races since he turned professional in 1995, including two stages in Giro d'Italia and three stages of 1998 Vuelta a España. He also won the Intergiro competition of Giro d'Italia in 1996, 1999 and 2000. He retired at the end of 2007 season, riding for the British team Barloworld. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates.
The 1998 Giro d'Italia was the 81st edition of the Giro. It began on 16 May with a brief 8 km (5 mi) prologue that navigated through the streets of the French city Nice. The race came to a close on 7 June with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Eighteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Marco Pantani of the Mercatone Uno–Bianchi team. Second and third were the Russian rider Pavel Tonkov and Italian Giuseppe Guerini.
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.
Ján Svorada is a retired Slovak and Czech road racing cyclist. Svorada was born in Czechoslovakia; when that country split up in 1993, Svorada raced for Slovakia until 1996, when he started racing for the Czech Republic.
Dimitri Konyshev is a Russian former road bicycle racer. Over his 17 year professional cycling career Konyshev won nine Grand Tour stages becoming one of the few riders to win a stage in all three Grand Tours. He won 4 apiece in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and he also won a single stage in the Vuelta a Espana. Konyshev was the first Soviet and first Russian to win a medal in the Men's Road race at the UCI Road World Championships. He won a Silver medal in 1989 behind Greg LeMond and a Bronze medal in 1992 behind Gianni Bugno and Laurent Jalabert.
Mariano Piccoli is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Professional between 1992 and 2005, his major victories were 3 individual stages in both Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. He also won Points Classification once and Mountains Classification twice in Giro.
Manuel Belletti is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam Eolo–Kometa. He took a total of 21 professional wins during his career, nine of them on Italian soil.
Massimo Strazzer is a former Italian professional cyclist. The highlight of his career came with his victory in the Points Classification at the 2001 Giro d'Italia. He retired from cycling in 2004.
Omar Fraile Matarranza is a Spanish racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers. He is a winner of stages in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and has twice won the Mountains classification in the Vuelta a España.
Andrea Vendrame is an Italian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam AG2R Citroën Team. In May 2018, he was named in the startlist for the Giro d'Italia.
