Or should I say American style? Today's winner on the Zoncolon and two time champion Gilberto Simoni, and Maglia Rosa holder Danilo Diluca ride for teams sponsored by American Bike companies.
Gilberto Simoni climbs to greatness on the Scott Addict R1. The Addict uses Scott's IMP (Integrated Molding Process) to produce a frame with a claimed weight of 790 grams. Without getting into specifics, IMP is essentially a monocoque front end, and a lay-up rear, and very little metal (including carbon dropouts, cable stops and front derailleur hanger). Simoni rides the Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheelset, and like the rest of his Saunier Duval teammates, he rides the SRAM force groupset and a Ritchey cockpit. One point of note, Simoni uses a prototype of the SRAM "Red" Group levers, which is SRAM's answer to Campy Record in 2008 (stay tuned). Gibo is perched on the saddle he made famous, the fi'zi:k Arione Wing Flex. The Scott is super light and provides a nice stiff frame for those uphill attacks made famous by Simoni. His frame is decked out in his trademark spider web paint job.
Maglia Rosa wearer and L-B-L champion Damilo DiLuca powers away from the field on his Cannondale SystemSix SI. The System 6 is an interesting design using a beefy monocoque carbon front end (with a scary-oversized head tube) mated to a welded aluminum rear triangle. The SI stands for System Integrated, referring to the oversized integrated headset and the integrated bottom bracket and proprietary SI crankset. The remaining components are the Campy Record Gruppo, Fulcrum Wheels, FSA bar/stem and Fizik saddle. Not as light as the Scott, DiLuca uses the uber-stiff rear end of the bike to accelerate to victory.
Cannondale is no stranger to the podium at the Giro, and personally I have always been a fan of their bikes, with their bulky yet sexy good looks and fine craftsmanship. Besides, it's nice to see a couple of American manufactures besides Specialized and Trek enjoying some success in Europe.