Voigt against half stages

"I rejected [the decision] in the names of the riders," Voigt told Cyclingnews. "For a lot of reasons: Half-stages require a lot of time and effort, and for what? For a three kilometre-time trial, and half the prize money?

"While I probably won't ride the Giro, I can't imagine that the participating riders will like the idea," continued the German rider. "They'll want a normal stage with the start at ten or eleven in the morning, and a finish at five.

Voigt said he would continue to defend his position and that there is ample time until the start of the race in May to change the decision.

"But it looks like they might get away with it this time, as it is now already official," he said.

International teams such as Discovery Channel, T-Mobile, and CSC did not travel to Italy for the Giro presentation on Saturday to show their disgruntlement with the new features and Italian sprint machine Alessandro Petacchi said he may not participate in the Italian tour because of the few sprint finishes.

1997 Tour de France champion and 6-time podium finisher Jan Ullrich is considering riding in the Giro 2006 and will decide this week on whether or not he will participate. T-Mobile sport director Rudy Pevenage said his German rider would either ride in the Giro or the Tour de Switzerland as preparation for his 2006 season objective, the Tour de France.

"He should ride it, for him it would be good," said Pevenage. "I advise him, after hearing the details of this Giro last Saturday, to participate."