Giro dell'Emilia (1. H.C.)  92nd Edition Preview
Centenary Editiion - Parcours preview, team announcements for the two Fall Italian semi-classics this weekend.

The Giro dell'Emilia is the crown of the three days of racing this week in Italy encompassing the three Fall Semi Classics that include the Coppa Sabatini and G.P. Beghelli Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli all in the Bologna area in Northern Italy. This tryptych of races leads up to the grand finale of the pro season, the Giro di Lombardia on October 17th, the traditional end of the pro tour season.

Teams will be looking for one last shot of glory and to sharpen their form for the "Race of the Falling Leaves" put on by RCS the Giro Organizers. For one team, Barloworld the races will be its final swan song as they lose their sponsorship this year; and the boys in Red are looking to go out in style this weekend.

The two races will also feature as today's race did the debut of our new road champion Cadel Evans in his "Maglia Iridata". Cadel was instrumental in launching Silence/Lotto team mate Philippe Gilbert for the win today in the Coppa Sabatini. The Aussie looks to be in excellent form and he may be keeping powder dry for Lombardia but... he may be gunning for a win in Emilia. Other riders will be riding to catch the eye of the other teams as they seek a contract for 2010.

Cadel Congratulates Gilbert on his win in the Coppa Sabatini.
 Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

The Italian Classic is celebrating its 100th year and 92nd edition. The race gets under way after two 1.7 opening circuits in Modena (the home of fine Balsamic Vinegar). The first 85 km of the G.S. Emilia is should prove to be fairly uneventful other than the two intermediate sprints in Zola Predosa after entering the province of Bologna at 79 km and the second as they begin the first climb in Sasso Marconi (burial sight of Guglielmo Marconi) at 90 km.

The Giro dell'Emilia in its centenary in 2009 will pay tribute also to Bologna born, Guglielmo Marconi who in 1909 was  awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for developing a system of wireless telegraphy and radio;  that changed the history. Guglielmo Marconi born to an Italian father and Irish mother was an avid cyclist as well as a scientist and inventor. So he would be pleased to watch the sprint as the riders pass.

Of course we can expect the early break which may be large but, what lies ahead will make it hard for the break to stay away as it approaches the final part of the race in Bologna. Either way expect the pack to watch the gap closely and pick up the chase with enough time to pull them in as the race nears the final circuits.

The climbing starts after the sprint  with the 8.8 km - 623 meter climb of the Monzuno (average 5% with 8% sections)  at 111.4 kilometer. Shortly after the Loiano  climb follows  a 5 km climb of 714 meters averaging 6%; at the summit the riders have 77.8 km to the finish and 34 km to the entry into Bologna.

The riders enter Bologna at the Piazza di Porta Santo Stefano after 154.8 kilometers with 43.4 km to go. The first of 4 finish circuits of 9.3 kilometers start at the161 kilometer marker with 37.2 km to go. There the  riders will have to confront the 268 meter climb of the San Luca four times, the last of which is the finish.

What the climb lacks in height it quickly makes up for in steepness.  The San Luca is 2 kilometers in length with an average gradient of 10% which belies the actual suffering that will be felt after 160 km of racing as the gradient kicks up to 18%  in the first kilometre. This is then followed by a shallower grade, but not by much, for the for the final 500 meters. The race flattens out for the last 200 meters to the finish - sure to produce an interesting finish for those select few that can be there on the fourth round of the climb and be in the selection for the win.

Be sure to read Italian Time Trial Champion Marco Pinotti's comments on the weekends racing below.

Teams: Lampre – Ngc, Liquigas, Quick Step, Rabobank, Silence/Lotto, Team Columbia/Htc, Katusha, Team Milram, Saxo Bank.

Barloworld, Ceramica Flaminia/Bossini Docce, Csf Group/Navigare, Lpr Brake/Farnese Vini, Acqua & Sapone/Caffè Mokambo, Isd/Neri, Serramenti Pvc Diquigiovanni/Androni Giacatolli and continental out fit: Carmiooro/A Style.
Start List .pdf

Giovanni Visconti won't be late to the start, if he uses the alarm clock collected after the Coppa Sabatini today. Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

 Team Announcements
Lampre/NGC
Not only Paris-Tours for Lampre-NGC in the weekend: blue-fucsia team will take part in Italy in Giro dell'Emilia (Saturday 10) and in Gp Beghelli (Sunday 11).
The two Italian races are interesting appointment for Damiano Cunego, who'll came back to races after World Championship and in view of Giro di Lombardia.
In Giro dell'Emilia with Cunego there will be Bindi, Gasparotto, Magazzini, Marzano, Manuele Mori, Santambrogio and Tiralongo. This one, thanks to his outstanding fit whosed in Vuelta a Espana, could be an alternative to Cunego.
Cunego will take part in Gp Beghelli too, race won by Damiano in 2007, but instead of Tiralongo there will be Grandene. the rest of the team will be the same of Giro dell'Emilia.
In Lampre-NGC's staff there will be doctor Andreazzoli, masseurs Bertolone, Capelli and Inselvini and mechanics Biron, Bozzolo and Pengo.

Team Barloworld looking for success in Emilia Romagna
Team Going Out in Style in their Final Races
Team Barloworld ends the racing season this weekend with the Giro dell'Emilia and the GP Beghelli, and Claudio Corti's riders are looking to go out in style. The Giro dell'Emilia is on Saturday October 10, on a selective 198.2km course that covers the tough San Luca climb, including sections at 18%.

Mauricio Soler of Barloworld leads Evans and Gilbert in the Coppa Sabatini. Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Directeur sportif Valerio Tebaldi will have two strong climber's in the Team Barloword line-up: Mauricio Soler and Chris Froome, who was in the thick of the action on the San Luca during this year's Giro d'Italia. Also in the team are Francesco Bellotti, Carlo Scognamiglio, Diego Caccia, Marco Corti, Gianpaolo Cheula and Paolo Longo Borghini.

Alberto Volpi will be directeur sportif for the GP Beghelli on Sunday October 11. The 195.8km race is on a rolling route that suits riders who have a fast sprint finish, like South Africa's Daryl Impey and Michele Merlo, who recently won the final stage of the Tour of Britain in London. Also in the team are Soler, Bellotti, Scognamiglio, Caccia, Longo Borghini and Cheula.

ISD/Neri riders Ruslan Pidgornyy and Bartosz Huzarski lead the break at the Coppa Sabatini. Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Columbia/HTC Primed for Italian Fall Classics
Maro Pinotti Analyses the Races
Team Columbia-HTC is sending a powerful, experienced squad to tackle the two prestigious Italian Classics held this weekend: the Giro dell'Emilia on October 10th and the G.P. Beghelli on October 11th.

Columbia-HTC's Marco Pinotti, who knows both races very well, says,

 "the Giro dell'Emilia has the toughest course by far. The first half is flat, but then the hills begin and finally it's got five ascents of a short but difficult climb, and the last time it finishes at the top. It's ideal for the kind of climbers who do well in the Ardennes Classics in April, guys like [Columbia-HTC teammate] Kim Kirchen who've won the Fleche Wallone in the past."

Pinotti says about G.P. Beghelli, which is flatter,

 "Beghelli is a very different race. There's a final circuit with a small climb, but instead of a lone winner, you'll normally get 45 or 50 guys all together and they sprint it out. A break can go, though, and the riders who've gone all out the day before are really tired here, which makes it a bit more complicated to predict. We don't really have a sprinter for these races, so we'll try and break up the race in the finishing circuit and see if a move can get away and stick."

After a strong ride in the World Championships, in which he finished fifth in the men's time trial, Pinotti says he's in good shape even as the end of the season draws close. "I did three or four days' easy training after the World's, but then I started training hard again and I'm still in good shape. I'm feeling good and I'm feeling confident."

Team Columbia-HTC for Giro dell'Emilia (Oct 10th) and GP Beghelli (Oct 11th): Kim Kirchen (Lux); Craig Lewis (USA); Thomas Lovkvist (Swe); Maxime Monfort (Bel); Marco Pinotti (It); Morris Possoni (It); Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl).

Astana
The Astana team sends eight riders who will race both Fall Italian classics in preparation for the final ProTour race of the 2009.  Chris Horner continues his recovery in the north Italian races.

Giro dell’ Emilia  & GP Bruno Beghelli
Riders: Jani Brajkovic, Valeriy Dmitriyev, Alexandr Dyachenko, Chris Horner, Maxim Iglinskiy, Roman Kireyev, Bolat Raimbekov & Alexandr Vinokourov
Director: Alexandr Shefer

Team Milram
Giro dell'Emilia
This coming Saturday Team MILRAM will start in the 92d edition of the Giro dell'Emilia (October 10 / UCI Category 1.HC). The German ProTour team will ride the challenging one-day Italian race for the second time since 2006. On the 198.2 kilometers, Directeur Sportif Vittorio Algeri will look to a strong climbing team around allrounder Fabian Wegmann.

The Giro dell'Emilia is run in the area of Bologna in northern Italy. This year, the course goes over several laps of a flat opening circuit, and after about 100 km it hits two five-kilometer long climbs. The race closes with five laps of a closing circuit with a steep two kilometer, where it ends after 198.2 kilometers.

The MILRAM line-up:  Luca Barla (ITA/San Remo-Imperia), Johannes Fröhlinger (GER/Freiburg im Breisgau), Thomas Rohregger (AUT/ Kramsach), Matthias Ruß (GER/Oberried), Peter Velits (SVK/Riemst, BEL), Paul Voß (GER/Bielefeld), Fabian Wegmann (GER/Freiburg im Breisgau)
Directeur Sportif: Vittorio Algeri (ITA)

G.P. Beghelli (October 11/UCI Category 1.1) on Sunday. The one-day race over 195.8 kilometers with start and finish in Monteveglio rounds out the Italian racing weekend for the team.

The Italian one-day race has been carried out since 1952. Up until 1996 it carried the name Milano-Vignola, before being re-named G.P. Beghelli in 1997. In its long history, three Germans have been able to win the race: Rudi Altig (1967), Gregor Braun (1981) and Danilo Hondo (2004). Last year Fabian Wegmann showed his good form by finishing sixth, Johannes Fröhlinger (also with Gerolsteiner) was 22nd. In 2007 both Germans were more successful, with Wegmann finishing second and Fröhlinger 16th.

The MILRAM line-up:
Luca Barla (ITA/San Remo-Imperia), Johannes Fröhlinger (GER/Freiburg im Breisgau), Dominik Roels (GER/Köln), Thomas Rohregger (AUT/ Kramsach), Matthias Ruß (GER/Oberried), Peter Velits (SVK/Riemst, BEL), Fabian Wegmann (GER/Freiburg im Breisgau)
Directeur Sportif:
Vittorio Algeri (ITA)

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