Italian veteran Gilberto Simoni has admitted he may not ride the 2010 Giro d'Italia as the swansong to his long career after all, following a disappointing performance in the Giro del Trentino.
The 38 year-old two-time Giro d'Italia winner signed a contract with the Lampre-Farnese Vini team last week just in time to ride the Giro del Trentino on home roads in the Dolomites. Simoni had kept training and made himself available for out-of-competition doping controls before he inked the deal. His dream was to ride the Giro d'Italia one last time before finally retiring.
However, Simoni suffered in the mountains at the four-day Giro del Trentino, losing 3:08 on the final mountain stage to Alpe di Pampeago. He finished 29th overall, 5:26 behind winner Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana).
Simoni revealed his doubts about the Giro d'Italia to Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I'm not sure if I'm going to ride the Giro. I'll decide in the middle of next week," he said.
"The Giro's not a walk in the woods, it's 21 days of hard racing. I like to stay up front in the mountains, but here [at the Giro del Trentino] I was scratching around a lot at the back."
Simoni, whose professional career commenced in 1998, was expected to be part of the Lampre-Farnese Vini team for the Giro d'Italia along with former rivals Damiano Cunego and sprinter Alessandro Petacchi.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
