This coming Saturday Team Milram will be at the start of the 100th birthday of the Giro d’Italia (May 9-31/UCI Category HIS). While Robert F?rster and Markus Fothen will be mainly responsible for stage wins in the 92nd running of the race, Milram’s climber Thomas Rohregger will concentrate on the overall ranking. During the approximately 3,450 kilometers, Directeurs Sportif Vittorio Algeri and Ralf Grabsch will also look to Germans Thomas Fothen, Martin M?ller, Matthias Ru?, Ronny Scholz and Bj?rn Schr?der, as well as Italian Luca Barla.
"I have made a lot of plans for the Giro and hope for a good placing in the overall ranking" said Thomas Rohregger, who will be making his debut at the three-week Italian race. "I am totally healthy and felt strong at the Tour de Romandie. In addition, I will be especially motivated for the stages which go through my Tyrolian homeland. The Giro is my first Grand Tour and is certainly a highlight for every rider" said the winner of the 2008 Tour of Austria.
The two stage-chasers Robert F?rster and Markus Fothen can look back on less-than-perfect preparations for the Giro 2009. Markus Fothen had to drop out of the Tour de Romandie with a viral infection, "which knocked me out for two days, but which is totally gone now." Fothen will be "100 percent fit at the start." Things went similarly for Robert F?rster, who couldn’t start the Tour die Romandie because of the flu. But he is over his illness, too, so that F?rster can hope for another successful Giro as in 2007. In that year, for his then-Team Gerolsteiner, he was able to celebrate two stage wins, the third and fifth stages.
The 92nd Giro starts on Saturday, May 9, with a team time trial of 20.5 kilometers in the city of Venice. In honor of the race’s 100th anniversary, all of the stage cities of the premiere edition of the race in 1909 will be visited, including Bergamo, Chieti, Naples, Florence and Genoa. Because of this, the race won’t end as usual in Milan, but in Italy’s capital, Rome. On the 3,454.5 km long route from the north to the south and back again, the peloton will have a hard task before it. Three of the race’s 21 stages are time trials. There are also seven mountain stages.
The MILRAM lineup:
Luca Barla (Italy), Robert F?rster (Germany), Markus Fothen (Germany), Thomas Fothen (Germany), Martin M?ller (Germany), Thomas Rohregger (Austria), Matthias Ru? (Germany), Ronny Scholz (Germany), Bj?rn Schr?der (Germany)
Directeur Sportif:
Vittorio Algeri, Ralf Grabsch
The stages 2009:
9. May, 1. Stage: Venice – Venice (TTT) 20,5 km
10. May, 2. Stage: Jesolo – Triest 156 km
11. May, 3. Stage: Grado – Valdobbiadene 198 km
12. May, 4. Stage: Padua – San Martino di Castrozza 162 km
13. May, 5. Stage: San Martino di Castrozza – Alpe Di Siusi 125 km
14. May, 6. Stage: Bressanone/Brixen – Mayrhofen (Austria) 248 km
15. May, 7. Stage: Innsbruck (Austria) – Chiavenna 244 km
16. May, 8. Stage: Morbegno – Bergamo 209 km
17. May, 9. Stage: Milan – Milan 163 km
19. May, 10. Stage: Cuneo – Pinerolo 262 km
20. May, 11. Stage: Torino – Arenzano (Genua) 214 km
21. May, 12. Stage: Sestri Levante – Riomayre (ITT) 60,6 km
22. May, 13. Stage: Lido Di Camaiore – Firenze 176 km
23. May, 14. Stage: Campi Bisenzio – Bologna (San Luca) 172 km
24. May, 15. Stage: Forli’ – Faenza 161 km
25. May, 16. Stage: Pergola – Monte Petrano 237 km
27. May, 17. Stage: Chieti – Blockhaus 83 km
28. May, 18. Stage: Sulmona – Benevento 182 km
29. May, 19. Stage: Avellino – Vesuvius 164 km
30. May, 20. Stage: Naples – Anagni 203 km
31. May, 21. Stage: Rome – Rome (ITT) 14,4 km
Total distance: 3.454,5 Kilometer
Website: Team Milram
Website: Giro d’Italia
