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| 2007 Giro: Simoni and Piepoli on Zoncolan (http://www.cyclingnews.com) |
Gilberto Simoni was born in Palù di Giovo, Trentino,
Italy, 25 August, 1971. He is two-time Giro d'Italia winner. He also holding
the fastest time at Monte Zoncolan climb: impressive 39min 05sek. In my
opinion, that is a record that will last forever.
Simoni confirmed his potential as a road cyclist in
1993, when he won Girobio (also known as Baby Giro), which is the most
important race on Italy's amateur calendar and it is considered the amateur
version of the Giro d'Italia.
The list of Girobio winners is impressive. It includes great
riders like Francesco Moser, Marco Pantani, Gilberto Simoni, Leonardo Piepoli
and Danilo Di Luca.
Simoni turned professional in 1994 with the Jolly
Componibili-Cage 1994 team. In 1997 Simoni won his first professional race.
However, early years of his professional career were not filled with success. In
1998 he even had a short break from cycling and worked as a bicycle mechanic
for 1984 Giro d'Italia winner Francesco Moser.
In 1999 Simoni joined the Ballan-Alessio team in 1999
and finished a surprising third on the general classification of that year's
Giro d'Italia.
In 2001 Simoni took his first victory in Giro d'Italia.
Following his Giro victory Simoni moved to the Saeco Macchine per Caffè-Longoni
Sport team with the objective of repeating his Giro success of the previous
year.
In 2003, the Saeco team came to the Giro d'Italia with
the only purpose of supporting Simoni to win the race. After impressive fights
with Stefano Garzelli, Yaroslav Popovych and Marco Pantani in the high
mountains in extremely challenging wheather conditions (hailstorms, etc.),
Simoni cemented his second Giro d'Italia victory.
In 2007 Giro d'Italia (stage 17) Gilberto Simoni takes
his second victory on Monte Zoncolan. The 35-year-old Simoni crossed the line
on the Monte Zoncolan ahead of team-mate Leonardo Piepoli to repeat his success
of 2003, when the riders had come up the other side of the mountain.
The 2010 Giro d'Italia was the final race of his
career. He finished 69th overall, 2:40:14 behind Ivan Basso. Simoni was
characteristically frank about his last bid for glory, which emotionally saw
him beaten in the sprint for the Cima Coppi KOM prize by the Swiss Johann
Tschopp, at the summit of the Passo di Gavia in the second last Giro stage.
Mobbed at the finish line by Italian media looking for one final quote from a
rider who rarely hesitated to speak his mind, Simoni said:
"Perhaps if I'd played more of a bluffing game, I
might have had something left for the finish but never mind. That's bike
racing. I'm just glad the Giro is over. I've had enough now."
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