Danilo Di Luca

Danilo di Luca, born January 2, 1976 in Spoltore, is a professional Italian cyclist.

Related Topics:
January 2 - 1976 - Spoltore - Professional - Italian - Cyclist

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He began his professional career in 1998 in the Italian Riso Scotti Team. However, his first pro win did not come until 1999, when, after moving to team Tollo-Alexia, he won the first stage of the Giro d'Abruzzo. He still remained in the team after its fusion with the Acqua & Sapone structure, taking important wins in 2001 such as the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia and the Autumn classic Giro di Lombardia. Then, he was transferred to team Saeco-Longoni Sport.

Related Topics:
1998 - Riso Scotti - Tollo-Alexia - Giro d'Abruzzo - Giro d'Italia - Classic - Giro di Lombardia - Saeco-Longoni Sport

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During his time at Saeco-Longoni he had a long stroke of bad luck, which began when he lost the Vuelta al País Vasco on the last stage, a mountain time trial in which Andreas Klöden took the lead and the final win. Combined with a succession of injuries and a lack of confidence of the team directors, his performance suffered for many years.

Related Topics:
Vuelta al País Vasco - Andreas Klöden

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He then switched to the newly formed Liquigas-Bianchi team in the 2005 season, with teammates such as Mario Cipollini former world champion in Zolder, Dario Cioni who was fourth on the previous edition of the Giro, Stefano Garzelli winner of the 2000 Giro, and Magnus Backstedt winner of Paris-Roubaix 2004. He was the leader of the team for the spring classics campaign.

Related Topics:
Liquigas-Bianchi - Mario Cipollini - Zolder - Dario Cioni - Stefano Garzelli - Magnus Backstedt - Paris-Roubaix

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His first victory in this season came in the first stage of the UCI ProTour race Vuelta al País Vasco, where he also took the overall win after defeating Unai Osa in the final time trial. Then he went one to execute a great demonstration of powerplay in the spring classics, where he won the foggy 2005 Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, taking the UCI ProTour Leader's White Jersey from Belgian Tom Boonen. Only an exhibition by Jens Voigt and the winner Alexandre Vinokourov prevented Danilo from emuling Davide Rebellin's feat one year before, when the Italo-Argentinian won the three Ardennes classics in a row.

Related Topics:
UCI ProTour - Vuelta al País Vasco - Unai Osa - Amstel Gold Race - La Flèche Wallonne - Tom Boonen - Jens Voigt - Alexandre Vinokourov - Davide Rebellin - Ardennes - Classics

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After his run of victories he started the 2005 Giro d'Italia, where he notched two stage wins and finished well in the top five of the general classification. He then took a few weeks rest and took part in the Tour of Germany and the Tour de Pologne. In the latter, he finished in a solid fifth place.

Related Topics:
2005 Giro d'Italia - Tour of Germany - Tour de Pologne

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He bagged the first overall win in the UCI ProTour history with a fourth place in the 2005 Züri-Metzgete.

Related Topics:
UCI ProTour - Züri-Metzgete

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