Paolo Savoldelli barely managed to hang-on to his overall win of the 2005 Giro d'Italia in today's final GC stage.
Simoni made a heroic breakaway with Di Luca and Jos Rujano along the second-to-last climb of the day.
Gilberto was over 2:00 minutes down in 2nd place at the start of the stage, and at one point was the virtual maglia rosa - however he cramped and died on the ascent of Sestriere, ending his hopes of another Giro win. Had Simoni not seized up in the final kilometers, ole' Il' Falco would've been fucked.
Final Classification (baring any mishap in the run in to the sprinters finish tomorrow.)
- Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 88:01:43
- Gilberto Simoni (I), Lampre-Caffita, at 0:28
- Jose' Rujano Guillen (Vz), Colombia-Selle Italia, at 0:45
- Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 2:42
Article was last edited on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 @ 4:58 PM
