Armstrong and Ullrich to miss Giro
MILAN, Italy -- Cycling stars Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich will both miss May's Giro d'Italia -- race organizers have revealed.
Some 20 teams, including the Saeco squad of defending champion Gilberto Simoni and the Vini Caldirola team of Stefano Garzelli, are among 11 Italian outfits selected for the three-week stage race.
Armstrong and Ullrich are planning their seasons around the Tour de France in July and feel they would lose too much energy by racing in the May 8-30 Giro.
Organizers were hoping that Armstrong's U.S. Postal squad and Ullrich's T-Mobile team might at least enter without their top riders, as in past editions of the race.
Gazzetta dello Sport, a newspaper that helps organize the Giro, said that the teams' decisions had to be respected but they were "becoming less acceptable."
Simoni, who also won the 2001 Giro, is planning to race in both the Giro and the Tour for the second-straight season.
In the sprints, a revival of last year's duel between Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi is expected with the admission of Cipollini's Domina Vacanze team and Petacchi's Fassa Bortolo squad.
Giro teams: Acqua & Sapone (Italy), Alessio (Italy), Ceramiche Panaria (Italy), Chocolade Jacques Wincor (Belgium), Colombia (Colombia), De Nardi (Italy), Domina Vacanze (Italy), Fassa Bortolo (Italy), Fdjeux.com (France), Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave' (Italy), Gerolsteiner (Germany), Kelme (Spain), Lampre (Italy), Landbouwkrediet (Belgium), Lotto (Belgium), Phonak (Switzerland), Saeco (Italy), Saunier Duval (Spain), Tenax (Italy), Vini Caldirola (Italy).
