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McGee speeds to victory in Giro prologue

By Maureen Upton, Special to VeloNews
Published: May. 8, 2004
The Lion King in his latest getup, which helped him finish 11th on the day and drew the traditional fine from
The Lion King in his latest getup, which helped him finish 11th on the day and drew the traditional fine from
Photo: Graham Watson

The fast men had their day in the sun on Saturday during the prologue of the 87th Giro d’Italia as, one at a time, 169 riders from 19 teams fought for the right to wear the leader’s pink jersey going into Sunday’s first stage.

Bradley McGee (FDJeux.com), who won the prologue in the 2003 Tour de France, had been widely favored in the short, technical 6.9km race. Other hopefuls included Tomas Vaitkus (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), Magnus Backstedt (Alessio–Bianchi), Rubens Bertogliati (Lampre), Florent Brard (Chocolade Jacques), and the elder statesman of speed, Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze).

Surprisingly, Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner) distinguished himself early on with a time of eight minutes, 40 seconds, and he remained the fastest on the day even as Ivan Quaranta (Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave), the 143rd of the 169 starters, rolled down the start ramp.

But McGee shot across the finish line 10 seconds faster than Pollack, rolling at an average speed of 48.7km/h to take the win and the maglia rosa into Sunday’s first stage. Pollack hung onto second place, with Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet–Colnago) third at 20 seconds back.

At the post-race press conference, McGee said he felt “fantastic” about his new jersey, especially since his European cycling career began in Italy with the Baby Giro; the race holds a special place in his heart. He and his young, motivated FDJeux.com team hope to defend the jersey for as long as possible, he remarked.

And while he felt lucky to win the 2003 Tour opener, in this prologue McGee started fresher and performed better, knowing he had no real competition.

“We couldn’t even think of who’d be second to me,” he said.

Still, the race could have gone very differently for the Australian. While training earlier in the day, he had to swerve to avoid a pedestrian and banged his left knee hard on the handlebars.

"The knee started to swell up so I iced it but we'll have to see how it is after a night's rest," he told the news service AFP.

But McGee was the man of the hour
But McGee was the man of the hour
Photo: Graham Watson

And the end of the race had its moment of drama, too, as McGee found himself obstructed by another rider and the race motorbikes in the final corner.

"I wouldn't have been very happy to have lost the prologue like that,” he said. “But it soon sorted itself out. Prologues suit me, and I'm more and more confident at the start of this type of race."

As for the two men expected to fight it out for the overall victory three weeks hence, they seemed to have traded strategies overnight. Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola–Nobili Rubinetterie) had remarked at Friday’s press conference that he would counter defending champion Gilberto Simoni’s conservationist approach by going hard from the start. But while Saeco’s Simoni finished a respectable 15th, 35 seconds off McGee’s winning pace, while Garzelli came in 57th, 46 seconds out.

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