Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Interesting interview with Danilo DiLuca. He gives a no comment about Franco Ballerini’s failed plans to bring an Italian victory at the Worlds. DiLuca did not work into Ballerini’s team plans for the World’s since the Italian effort was focusing on setting up Petacchi for the sprint victory. The only other card to play for the Italian team was Paolo Bettini, who was pretty much left alone to fend for himself. DiLuca imagines a better result for gli Azzurri had he been selected to ride alongside Bettini.
However he refused to rail against Ballerini as his head is currently on the chopping block.

The next focus for DiLuca will be the next three weeks of racing which kicks off with the Championships of Zurich, followed by Paris-Tours and then the Giro di Lombardia.
DiLuca loves Lombardi and would like to win there. This would also wrap up the ProTour title for DiLuca as that would be one of the final events of the year. Even though this season has a bit more races to go, DiLuca’s eyes are already on next season when he will be looking for overall victory in the Giro.

My first objective will be overall victory at the Giro…I finished fourth this year with no expectations whatsoever. Now I understand that I can actually win. and I will prepare myself for this objective more accurately.

Di Luca: `Ballerini? No comment`