37 year old Italian looking for more success as he heads toward 40
The recently minted 37 year old Italian, Stefano Garzelli, has signed with Italian powerhouse, Acqua e Sapone, for two more seasons.
The rider, who edges ever closer to 40, can lay claim to some of the biggest successes of his career in 2010 – namely the overall win at Tirreno-Adriatico and the stage win in the outrageously difficult time trial to Kronplatz in May’s Giro d’Italia.
Garzelli admits that he figured this would be his final season, but found renewed motivation with his successes this year.
“This really should have been my last season, but after I won Tirreno-Adriatico, I decided to race another year.”
If Tirreno-Adriatico brought one extra season to the native of Varese, then his stage win and multiple top tens at the Giro added the second, if only after a major rest following the three week journey through his homeland.
“In the Giro, it went really well for the team, and I won the time trial up the Plan de Corones. However, I was completely finished after the race, mostly because of my crash on the descent from the Mortirolo. After three weeks of complete rest, I began training again, and I realized that the desire to race was still intact, so after talking with my family, I decided to race a further two seasons.”
The Giro winner in 2000 and mountains classification winner in 2009 has seen a big resurgence over the past few seasons and can be counted on to be a factor in any Italian race from the beginning of the season to the end.