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At 24, Cunego has long-term Tour goals.

By Justin Davis, Agence France Presse
Published: Jul. 23, 2006

Damiano Cunego took a step toward a future victory on the Tour de France by winning the race's white jersey in Paris on Sunday.

Cunego, who has been considered a huge stage racing prospect since winning the Giro d'Italia at the age of 22, sealed victory in the Tour's 25 years old and under classification with an impressive time trial performance on Saturday.

On the race's 19th and penultimate stage, a 57km race against the clock, the 24-year-old blond-haired Italian finished 10th at 3:44 behind Ukrainian specialist Sergei Gontchar of T-Mobile.

His main rival for the prize, which in the past has been won by the likes of current Tour of Italy champion Ivan Basso, was Germany's Markus Fothen of Gerolsteiner.

Fothen, who was also riding his first Tour, likewise put his future Tour de France potential on show. And next year the 24-year-old will be hoping to take his revenge after losing the jersey on the penultimate day when he could only finish 4:15 behind Gontchar.

Cunego was buoyed by a performance which allowed him to beat the German to the jersey by just 36secs - and which he hopes is a sign of things to come.

"It's a superb result for me," he said after the time trial. "That has shown me that in the future I can really aim much higher."

Cunego's efforts also allowed him to finish 12th overall at 19:19 behind American Floyd Landis (Phonak), and after a series of promising performances in the mountains where he notably finished second to Luxembourg's Frank Schleck on the 11th stage climb to the legendary Alpe d'Huez, Cunego's Lampre team should also be pleased.

Lampre came into the Tour de France hoping that the more experienced Tadej Valjavec would spearhead their bid for a top finish in the general classification.

The Slovenian finished 17th overall at over 26 minutes behind Landis. Cunego admitted that next year, he could come to the race with bigger ambitions - if he can manage to squeeze it into his programme.

"The Giro d'Italia is a very important race for me and for the Italians but I've seen what I am capable of on the Tour," said Cunego. "I think my race here was promising. I came here hoping to gain experience and see how hard the Tour is. I'm a bit surprised about how well I did.

"Hopefully I can come back next year with bigger hopes."