Piemonte to decide Coppa Italia

This year's Giro del Piemonte will decide the 2008 Coppa Italia series with only ten points separating the top two riders. Italy's Danilo Di Luca of Team LPR Brakes leads compatriot Stefano Garzelli of Team Acqua Sapone-Caffè Mokambo.

"The other day, I saw that we were up in the classification," said LPR Brakes Team Manager Fabio Bordonali to Cyclingnews. "We've not thought about the overall all year, but we see that Danilo now leads by ten points. It's pleasing, even if I only found out this last week."

The Italian cycling federation (FCI) only yesterday sent out the classification, giving Bordonali little time to plan for the overall win. Di Luca previously announced the end of his season with the Giro dell'Emilia and the team will fight for Giro del Piemonte victory with Alessandro Petacchi.

Di Luca holds 324 points in the series that takes into account Italy's biggest races, excluding the Giro d'Italia, Milano-Sanremo and Giro di Lombardia. His advantage over Garzelli grew with the win in Saturday's Giro dell'Emilia. Italy's Enrico Gasparotto of Team Barloworld is in third at 266 points and he holds an 11-point advantage on Francesco Ginanni of Team Diquigiovanni.

Ginanni and his team lead the young rider and teams' classifications. Ginanni, 23, holds a 43-point lead over Mauro Finetto of Team CSF Group Navigare and a 45-point lead over Francesco Masciarelli of Team Acqua Sapone.

Diquigiovanni leads the teams' ranking with 853 points; it is a 33-point lead on Bordonali's LPR Brakes team. Acqua Sapone-Caffè Mokambo is in third with 767 points.

"We won last year with Team Tenax," Bordonali continued. "It will be hard to make up the points to Diquigiovanni, but there are 40 points if we win."