Road Bike Racing - The next Great One? Cunego?

Today a young Italian crossed the line first in the Giro, Damiano Cunego is his name. It was his first stage win in a grand tour. "Big deal," some would say, "lots of people have stage wins to their name, that doesn't mean he is going to be great someday." This is true, I know. And, I know it is not much, but, I have a feeling about this kid. I don't have much to go on either, he hasn't been around long, and I haven't even seen him race. All I am saying is this... If the Italians call someone the "Golden Boy", then the rest of the world had better watch out because greatness is probably right around the corner.

Cunego was the Junior World Champion in 1999, and has been consistently fulfilling the promise of that victory ever since. Saeco has contracted him for another two years, so they believe he'll continue to advance "espresso".

He won a road sprint ahead of Igor Astarloa today, beating McGee, so his finishing surge looks good to.

I'm very excited to see where this kid ends up in five years or so. He's doing so well now, and he's only 22!

dekkerfan, you called this well.
(Cunego took the stage and the overall lead today)

Incredible talent. He played defense to protect Simoni on the final climb, and still had it in him to win today.

i wonder about the inter-team dynamics here. is simoni ok with this kid taking the lead? surely the team won't start working for cunego now.

Today a young Italian crossed the line first in the Giro, Damiano Cunego is his name. It was his first stage win in a grand tour. "Big deal," some would say, "lots of people have stage wins to their name, that doesn't mean he is going to be great someday." This is true, I know. And, I know it is not much, but, I have a feeling about this kid. I don't have much to go on either, he hasn't been around long, and I haven't even seen him race. All I am saying is this... If the Italians call someone the "Golden Boy", then the rest of the world had better watch out because greatness is probably right around the corner.

All the way of the final climb today, Cunego looked like he was on a Sunday afternoon ride. He handled any challenges with ease. I think you are right. This young man will be a star.

But there is another young potential star on the horizon. American Tom Danielson. He is on the Fasso Bortolo team, but was held out of the Giro. This kid is really something special.

i wonder about the inter-team dynamics here. is simoni ok with this kid taking the lead? surely the team won't start working for cunego now.
Unless something goes terribly wrong with Gibo's performance, I'm pretty sure Saeco will stick with their original game plan. Simoni all the way. It's still early.

Cunego's proving to be a great young talent, it's exciting to see. But he'll have to go the distance. Lemme hear you say - VAI CUNEGO!

Cunego now leads the mountains classification, the general classification, the most combative classification, and is only ten points behind Petacchi in the points classification.

Wonder if he'll contest the sprint tomorrow? :)

I admit he is looking very good for a future overall win in the giro. It remains to be seen as to how he handles the really tough mountain stages that are coming in the final week of the giro. Today was a pretty straight forward climb, the fact that it ended in a bunch sprint of 15 or so guys should say something about the climb. Not to take anything away from cunego. Seeing the difficulty garzelli looked like he was having, on a climb that supposedly suited him, makes me think there will be two red jersey on the podium in milan.

Too bad Garzelli's armor has shown some weakness so early. I really hope it was a bad day and he brings it to Simoni. Both are great competitors.

Cunego is a future star but he, Simoni and Saeco have said who is leading this party and Cunego understands his role. It's good tactically for Cunego to be #2 GC but he will not overtake another Giro from Simoni unless Gibi falters.

Cunego is in great form but someone else said it- it's early. There are many, many "future greats" but only very few greats.
Popovych is another "future great" who has a 3rd GC in the Giro under his belt at only 23, 24? yrs old!