Many of the top contenders for next month’s Giro d’Italia will be looking to hone their form in the mountainous Tour de Romandie, the next stop on the ProTour series.

With five stages and a prologue, the 656-kilometer Romandie race zips around Switzerland on a challenging course that provides a perfect setting for Giro-bound riders to test their legs.

The race opens Tuesday with a short prologue in the narrow streets of Geneva before rolling over scenic farm roads on circuit courses in west-central Switzerland in stages one and two. Stage three is the most difficult day, with three Cat. 1s, including the summit finish at Anzere. Stage four hits a Cat. 1 with 10km to go and continues to push up to another, less-demanding summit finish. The final-day time trial in Lausanne always proves decisive with a climbing finish to the Olympic stadium high above Lake Geneva.

Two riders aiming for a strong performance will be Stefano Garzelli and Dario Cioni, the two Liquigas-Bianchi leaders who will co-captain the Italian super-team in the Giro.

“The ‘Romandia’ has always been an important test to value the riders' condition before the Giro,” said team manager Roberto Amadio. “It will be the very first test both for Garzelli and Cioni. I believe they are well motivated, especially Stefano who may try to win a stage.”

Other names to watch for are Santiago Botero and Tadej Valjavec (Phonak), Aitor Gonzalez (Euskaltel), last year's prologue winner Fabian Cancellara and sprint king Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), Brad McGee (FDJeux), Yaroslav Popovych and Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), Georg Totschnig and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), David Moncoutie (Cofidis), Fabian Jeker (Saunier Duval), Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto), Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Caffita) and Joseba Beloki and Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros).

While Cunego has committed to racing at Romandie, arch-rival Ivan Basso (CSC) will skip it after riding in the Ardennes classics.

Two-time defending champion Tyler Hamilton won’t be back as he’s fighting to clear his name after being handed a two-year suspension last week by USADA for homologous blood doping.Tour de Romandie
Prologue, April 26: Geneva, 3.4km
Stage 1, April 27: Avenches-Avenches, 167km
Stage 2, April 28: Fleurier-Fleurier, 172km
Stage 3, April 29: Aigle to Anzère, 146 – summit finish
Stage 4, April 30: Châtel-St Denis to Les Pacots, 147km -- summit finish
Stage 5, May 1 (ITT): Lausanne to Stade Olympique, 20.4km -- stair-stepping climb up 232m in final 5.4km

Di Luca keeps top spot
Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) might not have scored the hat-trick in the Ardennes, but he retained his top spot in the ProTour series. Liège winner Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) nudged into 13th while second-place Jens Voigt (CSC) moved into ninth overall with the strong ride.

Bobby Julich (CSC) and George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) are tied for seventh with 75 points while German sprinter Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) was dropped out of the points race after failing a doping control during the Vuelta a Murcia in March.

In the teams’ standings, Davitamon-Lotto retains the overall elad with 162 points, with Rabobank, Team CSC, Fassa Bortolo and Phonak rounding out the top 5. Discovery Channel is ranked 12th with 88 points.

The ProTour continues Tuesday with the start of the Tour de Romandie. ProTour standings through April 24
1. Danilo Di Luca (Italy / Liquigas) 131
2. Tom Boonen (Belgium / Quick-Step) 112
3. Oscar Freire (Spain / Rabobank) 94
4. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy / Fassa Bortolo) 93
5. Davide Rebellin (Italy / Gerolsteiner) 86
6. Michael Boogerd (Netherlands / Rabobank) 80
7. Bobby Julich (United States / Team CSC) 75
8. George Hincapie (United States / Discovery Channel) 75
9. Jens Voigt (Germany / Team CSC) 72
10. Danilo Hondo (Germany / Gerolsteiner) 70
11. Juan Antonio Flecha (Spain / Fassa Bortolo) 65
12. Thor Hushovd (Norway / Credit Agricole) 55
13. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan / T-Mobile) 50
14. David Etxebarria (Spain / Liberty Seguros) 45
15. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Illes Balears) 43
16. Andreas Klier (Germany / T-Mobile) 41
17. Nico Mattan (Belgium / Davitamon - Lotto) 40
18. Cadel Evans (Australia / Davitamon - Lotto) 38
19. Alberto Contador (Spain / Liberty Seguros) 36
20. Peter Van Petegem (Belgium / Davitamon - Lotto) 35

Teams’ standings
1. Davitamon - Lotto - Brustor (Belgium) 162
2. Rabobank (Netherlands) 156
3. Team CSC (Denmark) 149
4. Fassa Bortolo (Italy) 144
5. Phonak Hearing Systems (Switzerland) 124
6. T-Mobile Team (Germany) 111
7. Saunier Duval - Prodir - Costa Azahar Castellon (Spain) 108
8. Quick-Step - Innergetic (Belgium) 108
9. Liberty Seguros - Würth Team (Spain) 107
10. Team Gerolsteiner (Germany) 103
11. Liquigas - Bianchi (Italy) 97
12. Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team (United States) 88
13. Crédit Agricole (France) 81
14. Cofidis, Le Credit par Telephone (France) 72
15. Lampre - Caffita System (Italy) 71
16. Bouygues Telecom (France) 64
17. Francaise des Jeux (France) 62
18. Team Illes Balears - Caisse d'Epargne (Spain) 47
19. Euskaltel - Euskadi (Spain) 41
20. Domina Vacanze (Italy) 33

Ullrich down with cold
Jan Ullrich has been zapped with a small flu bug, but team officials say it won’t sideline him for very long.

The T-Mobile captain has been reinvigorated lately after some positive early tests in his Tour de France preparation.

“It’s only a small cold,” said team assistant Rudy Pevenage. “His start at Cataluyna (May 16-22) is not in jeopardy.” Simoni wins in Italy
Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) might not have won his “hometown” race last week at the Giro del Trentino, but he made up for it by taking the flowers in Sunday’s Giro di Appenino.

The two-time Giro champ edged Luca Mazzanti and Przemislav Niemec to take another win to go along with his 2003 winning ride.

“This win gives me a big boost ahead of the Giro,” said Simoni, who also won a stage at Paris-Nice in March. “This is a difficult race held on a demanding course, so it’s a good indicator of my form. I didn’t expect to be as strong as I was.”

Rodriguez takes Rioja
Javier Pascual Rodríguez (Comunidad Valenciana) wrapped up the overall title of the three-day Vuelta a Rioja in northern Spain on Sunday. The Spanish veteran finished safely in the main bunch to secure the win.

The third and final stage went to Ezequiel Mosquera (Kaiku) despite hard work by T-Mobile in an effort to set-up Erik Zabel.

“This victory proves that Comunidad Valenciana deserves a place in the ProTour,” Rodríguez said. “This team has always been among the top teams and we continue to demonstrate that so far this season in the races we’ve competed in.”

Comunidad Valenciana – the team formerly known as Kelme – was left out of the 20 ProTour teams in part because of the doping controversy last year involving Jesus Manzano, who made allegations of widespread doping within the Spanish team. Officials made an investigation into Manzano’s allegations, but neither the team nor any of its officials were sanctioned.