Danilo DiLuca (Liquigas) (Image credit: Andrea Hübner)
The winner of three ProTour races this season, Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) has maintained his comfortable lead in the ProTour rankings after round 11, the Tour de Romandie, finished today. That race was won by Santiago Botero (Phonak), who now has 51 points, well off Di Luca's total of 131. In second and third places are sprinters Tom Boonen (Quick.Step, 112 pts) and Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo, 95 pts). The latter should score a few more points during the Giro d"Italia, but with only a maximum of 3 points available per stage win, it is highly unlikely that he'll regain the leader's jersey. On the other hand, Giro favourite Damiano Cunego (Lampre, 51 pts) could score 85 points if he won the race again, in addition to points garnered for stage wins. That would put him on at least 136 points - enough to overtake Di Luca - but Di Luca also has Giro ambitions...
In the teams rankings, Rabobank (170 pts) has edged ahead of CSC (166 pts) and Davitamon-Lotto (164 pts), while Italy has broken clear of everyone else in the nations rankings with 398 points, with Spain (314 pts) and Belgium (214 pts) in second and third.
