Giro d'Italia 2008

Team Barloworld’s Mauricio Soler has began his final build-up to the Giro d’Italia that starts in Palermo on May 10.

A tired looking Soler post Bastogne Liege Bastogne - Pic fotoreporter sirotti

After studying the climbs of San Pellegrino and Marmolada by car on Tuesday, Soler, Team Barloworld team manager Claudio Corti and directeur sportif Valerio Tebaldi studied the climb of Plan de Corones which will host the mountain time trial 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Monday May 26.

The stage is from San Vigilio di Marebbe to the summit of Plan de Corones. It is only 13.8 km long but is expected to be one of the decisive stages of the 2008 Giro d’Italia.

Several riders, including recent Giro d’Italia winners Danilo Di Luca and Gilberto Simoni, also took part in the official ‘test ride’. After a warm-up they rode the first part of the climb together before going hard in the final seven kilometers. It was a cold and cloudy day but turned out to be an interesting test.

“It’s a hard climb, that’s for sure,” Soler said. “It’s difficult to say how much it will decide the Giro because when we race here we’ll already have two weeks racing in our legs. The race will also be on a better surface than the one we rode today, which has been ruined by the snow.”

Soler, the other riders and the race directeur of the Giro d’Italia Angelo Zomegnan held a press conference after the ride. Soler then returned to Team Barloworld’s Service Corse in Adro, near Brescia. On Friday he will join up with the other riders selected for the Giro d’Italia for team time trial training. On Saturday Soler will head back into the mountains to study the Monte Pora climb, where the 19th stage of the Giro finishes on Friday May 30.