As always- La Primavera served up a healthy dose of surprises and a much deserving winner. But there’s a lot more to this 300km day than just the results – and PEZ was privileged to see it all from shotgun inside the Saunier Duval-Scott team car…

The 2008 Saunier Duval presentation was a big production, but this is a big team with a big budget, the late Frans Assez could have run his Flanders squad for a year on what this launch cost. The outdoor photo-shoot came first; at around 3.30 pm the riders, officials and vehicles lined-up like an impressive model army in a toy shop window, with Piepoli doing his best to disrupt things - naturally.

At the Saunier Duval-Prodir team camp in January, we talked with a lot of the team and riders. It’s always interesting to get the look back at how various riders anticipated the coming season. In this ‘never before published’ interview, Gilberto looks ahead to the Giro…

Saunier Duval is a pretty cosmo team with nine nations represented, nothing unusual about that these days - but what's a Dutchman doing here? Shouldn't he be with Rabobank? Been there, done that - besides, this climber and chromo-man likes the weather down here: read on.

One of the quiet gentlemen of the peloton, Marco Pinotti has been a respected pro for a number of years, working in the background as a tireless worker and all-arounder. Back again for the Tour de Georgia, we caught up with him prior to the race.