Courtesy of Saeco--Gilberto Simoni waited a long time before letting himself go in the celebration of winning the Giro. Perhaps it was just fear of bad luck, respect for his rivals or just the fear of the unexpected, but Simoni had refused to speak about having won the Giro in the last few days even if he had a huge margin over all his rivals.

Simoni waited until the last 30km of racing before finally celebrating his Giro, a success based on a perfect build up, wins at the Giro del Trentino and the Giro dell’ Appeninno, and with an incredibly strong, made-to-order team put together by the Saeco team management.

Simoni is from the Dolomite mountains and dominated the 2003 Giro in the mountains; first at Terminillo where he shook out the whole field, on the hills before Faenza where he took the pink jersey and then with further attacks on the Zoncolan, Alpe di Pampeago, Chianale and Cascata del Toce. He even rode well in the final time trial to Milan, finishing the Giro with a final lead of 7’06”.

In a press conference Simoni talked about his Giro and also about the Tour de France, his next objective in a so far incredible season for him and his Saeco team who are ranked number one in the world.

"I raced differently compared to 2001. Then I looked for a few seconds on every stage, even where people didn’t expect me to and raced by following my instinct; I won almost by chance and it was dream come true. This year I had a completely different mentality and different way of racing. I carefully planned every part of the race; every attack was arranged with the team. Nothing was left to chance. Even the attack to Faenza was planned. If I hadn’t attacked the break would have been caught and Garzelli would have gained the 20-second time bonus. When I attacked I thought: 'I’m going to enjoy myself.’ They under estimated me, making a big mistake." "The team always raced following the pre-race tactics agreed with the directeur sportifs. The only day things didn’t go right was on the Zoncolan because Mercatone Uno set a fast but steady pace which stopped the attacks which would have split the field in the last three kilometres.

"Of my rivals Casagrande was the biggest disappointment. He wasn’t as good as in last few years. He had some problems that stopped him from being competitive. Stefano Garzelli was my biggest rival. He was affected by the crash that cost him a last chance to win. After finishing third in 2000 I discovered that Garzelli was able to win the Giro on the last day and so was always worried about him.

"Pantani surprised me. I didn’t expect him to be so determined, while Yaroslav Popovych was the surprise of the Giro. He’s got a lot of promise and he’s improving a lot but he still needs to learn a lot. Coming down the Sampeyre I didn’t take any risks but Popovych went hard and opened a gap, but at the bottom of descent he only had a ten-metre gap. He should have waited for us but he did everything he could to stay away. When we caught him we were the ones who didn’t wait for him.

"At the Tour de France we’ll try and cause problems for Armstrong. He’s always had an easy ride to Paris because he’s never faced real climbers. Other riders on the podium have been Beloki, Ullrich, Moreau, all riders who are good in time trials but much weaker than Armstrong in the mountains. If we can get him in a trap, we can make Armstrong panic. The route of the Tour doesn’t seem hard but the route of the Giro didn’t seem hard either and looked what happened. This proves that it’s the riders who make the race hard or not."

Simoni also talked about each of his team mates who had helped him win the Giro: "Paolo Fornaciari creates stability in team even if he is always joking around. Dario Pieri was always good for team morale, full of energy and drinks because he was the one who went back to the team car. Alessandro Spezialetti was the calmest of all and as race went on he made his presence and determination felt in the team. Leonardo Bertagnolli had a traumatic Vuelta but he told me he enjoyed this Giro. By racing his first Giro with Saeco, Damiano Cunego will have learnt a lot. Marius Sabaliauskas was really strong and made himself felt, he’s got a 100 horse power engine. Andrea Tonti never gives up, while Fabio Sacchi was the most edgy of the team but always kept everybody focused on racing and made sure we never gave up."

In the press conference a happy team manager Claudio Corti explained the secrets of Saeco’s success and talked about the Tour de France. "We created a strong and compact team for the Giro which was always in control. Their biggest strength is the team spirit, a prerogative of the Saeco company which we transmitted to all of the team.

"In the last few days there has been a lot of talk about the Tour de France. I can guarantee that Simoni will have a strong team, as strong as he had at the Giro. However the Tour is a different type of race which is more open to breaks. Armstrong and his team will have to take responsibility for the race but Saeco will have a strong team with riders such as Commesso who can go for stage wins an at the same time work for the team."