Passo Mortirolo roadsign
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

There were plenty of Simoni supporters along the climb
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Cunego supporters admiring their handywork.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Admiring the view over the final hairpins.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

All quiet in the late morning.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - gone but not forgotten, the Marco Pantani fan club.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - the last few hundred meters before the summit, Basso and Simoni together.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Basso and Simoni on the final stretch after riding the whole climb together.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Gutierrez Cataluna hung in there to maintain second place on the GC.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Leonardo Piepoli showing the strain after a tough three weeks of working for his captain and taking two stage wins.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Savoldelli together with Garate just before taking off in usual style on the descent.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Charlie Wegelius showed great form throughout the Giro and today was no exception.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Steve Zampieri and Maxime Monfort (?)
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Nicolas Vogondy of Credit Agricole
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Guido Trentin did well to finish only 22 mins down on Basso.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Emanuele Sella gets a helping hand.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Sylvain Calzati
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Matthias Kessler looks determined as he nears the summit.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Bettini prepares himself for the descent.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - some of the estimated 70,000 spectators on the final slopes!
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - Basso and Simoni carve their way through the crowd.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Mortirolo - action time for the fans, Basso and Simoni on the final stretch.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Simoni with 1km to go.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Another strong climbing performance from 78kg Gutierrez Cataluna, just beaten into 4th place by Piepoli at the finish.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - John Gadret had an excellent ride to finish only 2:40 down on Basso.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio finally finding some climbing form to finish a respectable 6th.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Franco Pellizotti grits his teeth and once again proves he is the Liquigas GC man for this Giro.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Charlie Wegelius paces team captain Danilo Di Luca to the finish.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Cunego was once again dropped early on the climb.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - a respectable day at the office for Ullrich only loosing 5:27 to Basso and finishing well ahead of the main group.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Bettini leads home a select group about 10 mins ahead of the main bunch.
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]

Monte Bondone - Basso out in front having out-ridden all his rivals once again. [Photo by Phill Ashworth]
[ Giro d'Italia 2006 ]