Damiano Cunego
Damiano Cunego ( born September 19, 1981 in Verona ) is an Italian racing cyclist.
Sporting career
After Cunego in his hometown of Verona street had become Junior World Champion in 1999, he joined the professional camp and became a member of the Saeco team, which went up in the team Lampre 2005. He remained his entire career with the team. According to his manager Alex Carera to Cunego goes well with the family Galusera, the owners of Lampre. He should have used his influence to ensure that the sporting director Giuseppe Martinelli in 2007, Roberto Damiani had to leave the team in 2012.
His sporting breakthrough reached Cunego in the spring of 2004. Having already won the Giro del Trentino and the Giro dell'Appennino, he started as assistant to the favorites Gilberto Simoni at the Giro d' Italia 2004 On the 16th stage after rebate Cunego attacked 60 Km from the finish. The tactical plan of the Saeco team was that the other favorites would erode their powers and could counter Simoni thereto. Since no response to Cunegos attack took place, he won and conquered by Yaroslav Popovych the overall leader Maglia Rosa, which he did not relinquish it until the end of the tour. Cunego won four stages, including the 18th stage to Bormio 2000, when the rivalry with Simoni was clear publicly. He suggested Simoni in the sprint, which it a "bastard" called him. At the end of the 2004 season, he won the Giro di Lombardia, thus securing the leadership position of the UCI World Ranking.
His success at the 2004 Giro d'Italia could not confirm since Cunego and achieve in the other " Grand Tours", the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, no victories. His attempt to defend the title at the Giro d' Italia in 2005 failed, and he was only 18 In retrospect, was diagnosed as an explanation for the performance deficit on a disease mononucleosis. In the years 2006, 2007 and 2012, he placed each in the top ten of the Tour of Italy. In the 2006 Tour de France he finished eleventh and won the junior championship. His best finish at the Tour in 2011 he reached sixth. In the Vuelta a España 2009, he won two stages.
Successful remained Cunego in one-day races: he won the Giro di Lombardia in 2007 and 2008 two more times. In 2008 he also won the Dutch ProTour race Amstel Gold Race in the mountain supervisor Print a nine -man lead group and was at the World Championships in Varese in the sprint of the persecutors Vice World Champion behind Alessandro Ballan.
Doping
A week before the 2008 Tour de France Cunego launched the campaign I am drug- free, which joined numerous drivers and wore a sticker with this solution. At this time, Cunego, however, was already exposed themselves doping suspicions, especially since he worked with the controversial sports doctor Luigi Cecchini 2007. Moreover, it was noted that Cunego could repeat his success at no great tour of the country at the Giro d' Italia 2004. It has represented the Hyphothese, Cunego have landed after 2004 doping and could therefore not repeat his performance. His former teammate Leonardo Bertagnolli, which was even blocked due to doping use, Cunego is one of the clean riders who had been cheated by riders like Bertagnolli. Cunego have a different mentality and always be competed against doping system. The Giro victory of 2004 was mainly due to the weak occupation of the race and the tactical blockade of the other favorites in the decisive attack.
In April 2011, the Prosecutor's Office of Mantua announced, among other things, Cunego accusing her of doping. The investigations were based on intercepted phone calls and SMS and directed against numerous cyclists, coaches and doctors and among other things, the manager of Cunegos Lampre team Giuseppe Saronni. Cited during the summer of 2013, the Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport from prosecutorial documents doping expert Sandro Donati, who performed " Damiano Cunegos EPO abuse is indirectly confirmed by Inform mation in text messages and phone calls between sports director Brent Copeland and Sergio Gelati. " Copeland was sports director Cunegos at Lampre and Gelati his coach.
Achievements
- World Champion Junior Road Race
- Giro d' Oro
- Tour of Qinghai Lake and a stage
- Giro del Trentino
- Giro dell'Appennino
- GP Industria & Artigianato
- Giro d' Italia and four stages
- GP Fred Mengoni
- GP Nobili Rubinetterie
- Giro di Lombardia
- A stage of Tour de Romandie
- GP Nobili Rubinetterie
- Trofeo Melinda
- Japan Cup
- Settimana Internazionale
- Giro d' Oro
- Giro del Trentino
- GP Industria & Artigianato
- Young Classification Tour de France
- Giro del Trentino and two stages
- A stage Germany Tour
- Gran Premio Beghelli
- Giro di Lombardia
- A stage Basque Country Tour
- Klasika Primavera
- Amstel Gold Race
- Vice World Champion Road Race
- Tour of Lombardy
- Japan Cup
- Settimana Internazionale and two stages
- Two stages of the Vuelta a España
- A stage in the Giro di Sardegna
- Giro dell'Appennino
- A stage of Tour de Romandie
- A stage of the Giro del Trentino
- A stage Settimana Internazionale
Grand Tour Ranking
WD = Task