but questioned his ability as an elite rider. Doctor Michele Ferrari named Evgeni Berzin, Olano, and Pavel Tonkov in order of the chance of winning the race. According to Arribas, Berzin was not in great form coming into the race, but his team doctor, Gianni Mazzoni, believed he could regain the form that helped him win the Giro in 1994. Berzin also had a fully committed team to support him this year, unlike in the previous edition where he and his teammate Piotr Ugrumov did not cooperate and worked against each other. Lluis Simon of El Punt felt Olano had performed better than Berzin in the recent Tour de Romandie. Simon believed that with the absence of Marco Pantani due to a crash at Milano–Torino, the Italian with the best chance to win was Francesco Casagrande. It was thought that the route was designed to allow Pantani a good chance to win. Due to the large amount of mountains in the final week, Swiss Pascal Richard was thought to have a chance for a high ranking in the general classification. Latvian Piotr Ugrumov (Roslotto–ZG Mobili), at age 35, was thought to have a good chance for victory and potentially one of his last good chances to win a Grand Tour. Young Ukrainian Alexander Gontchenkov showed great potential during the early season and many thought he could be a rider to place high in the general classification. Two-time champion Miguel Induráin and Laurent Jalabert did not participate in the race. Route and stages On 12 May 1995, Athens was announced as the host of the start of the 1996 Giro d'Italia in order to honor the centennial edition of the Modern Olympics. The complete race route was unveiled by race director Carmine Castellano on 11 November 1995 in Milan. It contained one time trial event, an individual one. There were ten stages containing high mountains, of which four had summit finishes: stage 7, to Massiccio del Sirino; stage 13, to Prato Nevoso; stage 20, to Passo Pordoi; and stage 21, to Aprica. The organizers chose to include one rest day. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was longer, contained two fewer individual time trials, and the same number of stages. The opening stage (known as the Grande Partenza) started in Athens, Greece, and the race stayed on Greek soil for three stages as it made its way to