  stefano garzelli (born 16 july 1973) is an italian former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 1997 and 2013. the high point of his career was his overall win in the 2000 giro d'italia, after a close three-way competition with gilberto simoni and francesco casagrande. ==career== born in varese, garzelli started out as being a domestique for marco pantani but proved in 2000 that he deserved much more. when "the pirate" lacked form in the beginning of the 2000 giro, garzelli was left free of all team duties for , and was able to fight and win his own battle in the giro. in the final time-trial stage garzelli took the race leadership away from casagrande, who was suffering an inflamed sciatic nerve. casagrande was devastated, and garzelli dedicated his win to pantani. he was a versatile rider with qualities that included decent sprinting, decent time trials and some good skills in the mountains. without being a great attacker, garzelli was very constant and, on a good day, he could go with the best climbers. after his win of the 2000 giro d'italia he was recruited by the italian super-team  in 2001, aiming to repeat his 2000 giro success. the start of the season showed promise, with garzelli being a key player in teammate paolo bettini's win in liÃ¨geâbastogneâliÃ¨ge, with garzelli himself finishing s
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