 Born in Varese, Garzelli started out as being a domestique for Marco Pantani but proved in 2000 that he deserved much more.When "The Pirate" lacked form in the beginning of the 2000 Giro, Garzelli was left free of all team duties for , and was able to fight and win his own battle in the Giro.In the final time-trial stage Garzelli took the race leadership away from Casagrande, who was suffering an inflamed sciatic nerve.