History was made last week by USA Cycling National Development Program (NDP) rider Joe Dombrowski who etched his name in the history books with a win at the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia (known in America as the Baby Giro).
After winning two of the nine stages, Joe Dombrowski (Marshall, Va./Bontrager-Livestrong Team) won the final general classification of the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia (known in America as the Baby Giro) on Sunday.
Fully supported by USA Cycling, the 21-year-old Dombrowski won the fourth and eighth stages to help him become the first American to win this race. Dombrowski donned the pink leader’s jersey after winning Monday’s fourth stage, but a punctured tire on Tuesday forced him to surrender it. He regained it Saturday after winning the penultimate stage by 43 seconds to jump to the top spot from seventh in the general classification.
“It’s great to win,” an excited Dombrowski said after the race. “Our race had a lot of ups and downs. We took the jersey after the fourth stage, but an untimely flat cost us the jersey. If I had any chance of getting the jersey back, I had to do it at Passo di Gavia (the eighth stage). Today, we just played it safe and came out on top.”
Dombrowski’s win puts his name alongside previous race winners such as Francesco Moser (1971) and Giovanni Battaglin (1972).
Larry Warbasse (Traverse City, Mich./BMC-Hincapie Sportswear Cycling Team), Rob Squire (Sandy, Utah/Chipotle-First Solar Development Team) and Danny Summerhill (Englewood, Colo./Chipotle-First Solar Development Team) each contributed valuable efforts to Dombrowski’s overall win. For their part, Warbasse placed 27th, Squire was 38th and Summerhill finished 87th in the final results.
