News for March 24, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Milan-San Remo post-race comments

Full results and report
Photo gallery

Mario Cipollini (Acqua e Sapone, 1st)

Photo ©: Yuzuru Sunada

"I feel like I'm in another world. I have made a lot of sacrifices to reach this point. This is the best moment of my career. Milan-San Remo, I have thought about it always."

"I came close to victory last year and this gave me the strength to persevere. Before the race, I did not want to talk about it. The team change was very important in that it gave me a new level of motivation with people who had confidence in me. I started training in December. I went to South Africa and the Canaries with this aim."

"I did not see Zabel fall. I was concentrating too much on keeping my position. It was only on the Cipressa that I realised that the peloton had been reduced. I did not feel good on the Cipressa. I was better on the Poggio even though I suffered."

"The sprint? I jumped early because I was afraid someone else would anticipate it. In the last meters, I was even afraid I would be caught."

"If I have an objective now, it is the World Championship in October. The parcours is good for me. It will be necessary to ride an appropriate program, I have shown that I can win difficult races. Next week, I will rest on Monday and Tuesday."

Fred Rodriguez (Domo, 2nd)

"Almost there today...(Cipo) is an expert sprinter and I just underestimated him...the final straight was slightly uphill with the wind in my face, and I hoped he would die, but he never faded...

"I had great legs today; I thought about going with Bettini but I had to hold myself back."

Markus Zberg (Rabobank, 3rd)

"The aim was to finish in the top 10. But, with a little luck, I hoped for a podium finish. The race was nervous but I would have preferred that the pace was quicker on the Cipressa. There would have been a selection before the descent."

"In the sprint, it was difficult because the wind blew against us. I attempted to take the wheel of Cipollini but others had the same idea. I ended up several times in the wind. It was impossible to pass Cipo in these conditions."

Jo Planckaert (Cofidis, 4th)

"I was going up the Cipressa so easy, but I only started the climb of the Poggio in 30th position. I tried to get to the front, but I was placed too far back. In the sprint there wasn't much to be done against Cipollini. To beat him I'll have to eat a lot more sandwiches. But good; my races are now on the schedule."

Oscar Freire (Mapei, 5th)

"I did not know that Zabel had fallen. In the last kilometre I was in an excellent position right behind Cipollini. On the last corner Lanfranchi, probably involuntary, touched the front part of my bike which made me lose a few places; this jeopardised the final sprint for me. It's a shame as I was in excellent form".

Andrei Tchmil (Lotto, 7th)

He was thinking about an ultimate attack in his last Primavera: "But that didn't happen anymore. It was a fast race and in the finale, alongside the coast, the headwind was against an attack."

Tchmil showed the rest of the peloton again today that he still is a force to be reckoned with. And the saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, certainly doesn't apply to Lotto's ex Milan-San Remo winner ('99). He has been studying Dutch because he is planning to come and live in Flanders after he stops riding.

"Apparently some people still think I'm only trying to smooth talk to the journalists when I tell them I'm going to come and live here [in Flanders] eventually" Tchmil commented. "But I'm serious about it, I'll speak Dutch and will build my home here".

Peter Van Petegem (Lotto, 15th)

"I wasn't ideally positioned on the Poggio. It was very hard to try anything, because of the headwind."

Paolo Bettini (Mapei, 50th)

"I tried in all possible ways to make a difference during the long uphill Poggio section. Figueras and I tried right up to the last minute; I don't think we could have done any better especially as the finish line was so far away from Poggio. If Di Luca had formed part of the breakaway, maybe things would have been different. Anyway, congratulations to the winner".

Richard Virenque (Domo, 57th)

"I am was in the first group at the Poggio. I was held up by a fall on the climb. A pity after 280 kilometres of racing to finish alone like that. I was happy to be in front. I followed well even if I am not in great form."

Luca Paolini (Mapei, 64th)

"I am happy with how I rode my first Sanremo. I rode at the disposition of the team today, closing in on attempted breakaways and trying to keep Bettini at the head of the race before the Poggio. Unfortunately I fell during the Poggio section and that is where the race ended for me".

Nico Mattan (Cofidis, 102nd)

He got caught up behind the crash. "It was an easy race really. The first three, four hours we virtually didn't have to push with that wind in the back. Even a tourist could have followed!"

Robbie McEwen (Lotto, 107th)

He was tipped as one of the outsiders, but he didn't get back to the front after a puncture. He was extremely disappointed: "This is a missed chance."

Daniele Nardello (Mapei, 143rd)

"Unfortunately I was victim of a fall before the Poggio. Thankfully I didn't hurt myself. Zanini was also caught up in the fall. Let's hope that I am a bit luckier next time".

Laurent Jalabert (CSC, DNF)

"I took the start because I had a good night's sleep. But, when one is tired, one sleeps always well! At the foot of the Bric Berton, that was it. I realised on this first climb that my legs were really tired. This is the first time that I have abandoned in Milan-Sanremo. I will have some tests next week to see if it has there an explanation to this fatigue. But, for the moment, my program will not be modified."

Johan Museeuw (Domo, DNS)

"Everyone thinks this is my last year, but I'm going to surprise a lot of people later on this season!"

After using this same line for the last few years; we give up and leave it up to you: Is he stopping, or isn't he?....Place your bets.

Winner's profile: Mario Cipollini

Milan San Remo winner Mario Cipollini celebrated his 35th birthday a day before the race, and was rewarded with the best present of all when he finally won on San Remo's Via Roma. Cipollini has now ridden 15 Milan-San Remos, collecting two second places en route to arguably his greatest career win.

His palmares total 170 wins (including criteriums) and he holds the record for the most number of stage wins in Grand Tours of any active rider. An incredible 34 of these have come in the Giro d'Italia, where he is ranked second only to Alfredo Binda in terms of wins.

Bio

Born: March 22, 1967 in Lucques (Tuscany)
Nicknames: Lion King, Il Magnifico, Super-Mario
Height: 1.90 m
Weight: 76 kg
Married to Sabrina, with two children
Teams: Del Tongo (1989-1991), GB (1992-1993), Mercatone-Saeco (1994-1995), Saeco (1996-2001), Acqua e
Sapone (2002)

Major victories

Milan-Sanremo (2002)
Giro di Siracusa (2001)
Trofeo Luis-Puig (1999)
GP E3 (1993)
Gent-Wevelgem (1992 & 1993)
Grote Scheldeprijs (1991 & 1993)
34 stages in Giro d'Italia, including 2 points jerseys and the maglia rosa for 4 days
12 stages in Tour de France, including 6 days in the yellow jersey, but never finished
8 stages in Paris-Nice
12 in Tour de Romandie

Left leg fracture for Erik Dekker

One of the worst injuries in today's Milan-San Remo was to reigning World Cup champion Erik Dekker (Rabobank), who was caught up in a large crash just before the Cipressa. Dekker was diagnosed with a fractured left femur by the race doctor, meaning that he could be out for up to 3 months. It's therefore the end to his World Cup campaign this year, as he will miss all the early season classics.

Broken collarbone for Sgambelluri

Italian Roberto Sgambelluri (Mercatone Uno), was another victim of a fall during the race, and managed to break his right collarbone.

No hematocrit controls

There were surprisingly no hematocrit controls carried out this morning before the race. However, last night the police delivered a summons to Slovenian Martin Hvastija (Alessio) to appear in court in Padua, in relation to the raids carried out on him and several other riders at Rieti last week during Tirreno-Adriatico.

MSR TV coverage limited

A bone of contention at Friday night's scheduled team managers meeting prior to Milan-San Remo was the television coverage of this year's race. Most countries outside of Italy, save for Belgium, Holland and Germany, chose not to pay Italian broadcaster RAI for the retransmission rights, as they considered the price too high. All the team managers boycotted the meeting, meaning that (amongst other things) there was no start order allocated for the team cars.

Earlier this week, UCI president Hein Verbruggen expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation, which will have a negative effect on the World Cup. Verbruggen introduced the World Cup 13 years ago as a season long competition incorporating the biggest one day events in cycling. "The greatest satisfaction is that the riders battle to win it," said Verbruggen. "Now it is necessary to go further."

"The television broadcast is essential for the image," he said, pointing out that the World Cup has to capture the attention of the public for seven months.

The two Italian races, Milan-San Remo and Giro di Lombardia, present problems due to the broadcast rights situation. At the moment, there is an agreement between RCS Sport and RAI TV which gives RAI all of the rights in Italy and abroad. RAI's price for re-broadcasting abroad was considered too high by many countries last year, with the result that both World Cup races as well as the Giro d'Italia did not gain a lot of exposure.

The same has happened this year, causing a lot of consternation within the UCI. "The professional teams are not happy, neither are their sponsors," said Verbruggen. "All that is because of the contract with RAI that does what it likes. This is an inadmissible position."

Milan-San Remo Prizemoney

1st: 11,875 euro
2nd: 5,938
3rd: 3,562
4th: 1,563
5th: 1,438
6th: 1,313
7th: 1,188
8th: 1,125
9th: 1,025
10th: 963
11th: 825
12th: 719
13th: 588
14th: 538
15th: 344
16th: 313
17th: 313
18th: 313
19th: 313
20th: 313
21st: 238
22nd: 238
23rd: 238
24th: 238
25th: 238

Total: 35,760 euro 

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Giro finale Photo ©: Bettini