Fassa Bortolo: All for Petacchi

Fassa Bortolo has announced its selection for the Giro d'Italia, and not surprisingly, the whole team is being built around Alessandro Petacchi, who won nine stages in 2004. Team manager Giancarlo Ferretti hasn't even selected a GC rider (Fassa had Cioni last year, now with Liquigas-Bianchi), so it's quite clear where the priorities are. The make-up of the team means that if a rider crashes or misses out on being part of the train, another can take his place.

Petacchi will have at his side Fabio Baldato, Marzio Bruseghin, Massimo Codol, Volodimir Gustov, Alberto Ongarato, Fabio Sacchi, Matteo Tosatto and Marco Velo, with Alberto Volpi and Alessandro Giannelli as sports directors.