Gilberto Simoni: "tremendous suffering"

Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni was astonished by the 2007 parcours presented Saturday in Milano. After having viewed the overall map on the large television screen in the auditorium, il Trentino said, "It appears very open."

But what really caught his eyes were the inclusion of two mountains, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Monte Zoncolan. "There are less climbs but the Tre Cime and Zoncolan are very hard. Never have I thought that these two monsters would be included in the same Giro," continued Simoni.

Zolcolan was last used when it was scaled up the easterly slope in 2003. Then Simoni took the stage on the way to winning the Giro d'Italia. From Ovaro, the 10.1 kilometre climb, along with a long, narrow tunnel, contains sections of 22, 20 and 18% gradients, with an overall of 11.9%.

Simoni noted, "It will be a very open Giro. The arrival on Zoncolan is one I like a lot. ... I have already tried this on my mountain bike; it will be 45 to 50 minutes of tremendous suffering."