Paolo Savoldelli's overall victory in the Giro d'Italia marked the eighth grand tour win for Johan Bruyneel's Discovery Channel (formerly US Postal) team: six Tours de France, one Giro d'Italia, and one Vuelta a Espana. The boys in blue have now won all three major tours between them, with Lance Armstrong going for a seventh Tour de France this July. And with talented riders like Yaroslav Popovych and Tom Danielson, there is at least a base for future big wins.
Savoldelli finished up beating Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) by 28 seconds and Jose Rujano (Selle Italia) by 45: a close margin, but certainly not the closest in the history of the Giro. In 1948, Fiorenzo Magni beat Ezio Cecchi by 11 seconds, while in 1974, Eddy Merckx beat Giambattista Baronchelli by 12 seconds, and in 1955, Magni beat Fausto Coppi by 13 seconds. But it has been nearly 30 years since a Giro was decided by a margin of less than 30 seconds (Gimondi beat De Muynck by 19 seconds in 1976).
