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Photo ©: Swift

News for May 14, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Giro d'Italia: Post stage comments

Stefano Garzelli (Mapei, 1st stage and GC)

Stefano Garzelli
Photo: © Sirotti
Click for larger image

"I am happy to hold the jersey now, even though we will not kill ourselves to defend it at all costs. I will wait to give everything in the last week of the race, and if in the meantime I should slip to second or third, it's no drama. The important thing is to have the maglia rosa in Milan."

"The Giro starts to hurt but of course it is very good to have won and to have gained some seconds. I have the morale, the energy and the team. Psychologically, I am not in the same position as I was in 2000, when my victory was a surprise."

"This stage was not a miniature Liege-Bastogne-Liege, only the last 10 kilometres was the same. It was planned that Bettini would contest the sprint in the case the peloton arrived together. Otherwise, it was up to me."

"My rivals? Casagrande evidently, it was he who attacked strongly on the cote de St Nicolas. Frigo also. Simoni? He was a little behind today but we know that he can do a lot in the mountains."

Dario Frigo (Tacconi, 10th GC)

"I couldn't do any more, and these first two stages have been very difficult, not just for me. I saw looks of pain from the effort in the peloton. But I cannot complain myself: I was static for nine months and had a little period of inactivity."

"In the GC I am well placed and the time gap does not worry me at the moment. Certainly Garzelli is going really strongly and showed that in the races over the last few weeks. This race however is long and a lot will happen."

Winner's bio: Stefano Garzelli

Today's stage winner and new Maglia Rosa is Stefano Garzelli (Mapei), a previous winner of the Giro in 2000 and a big favourite for this year's race. Already it's looking like a duel between Garzelli and Casagrande, but there's still a lot of racing to come.

Garzelli first rose to prominence in 1998 when he won the Tour de Suisse as a second year pro for Mercatone Uno. His biggest success is of course the Giro, which he won courtesy of a strong ride in the final mountain time trial in 2000, beating Francesco Casagrande. Garzelli can also sprint quite well, and was instrumental in Paolo Bettini's Liege-Bastogne-Liege win here three weeks ago.

Born: July 16, 1973
Birthplace: Varese, Italy
Height: 1,76 m
Weight: 60 kg
Current UCI ranking: 28th
Teams: Mercatone Uno (1997-2000), Mapei (2001-2002)

Major results

2002
GP de Larciano 2002
2nd Liege-Bastogne-Liege

2001
1 stage Vuelta al Pais Vasco
1 stage Tour de Suisse
Derny Arona (with Stefano Zanini)

2000
1 stage Settimana Lombarda
Giro d'Italia + 1 stage
Memorial Fabio Casartelli
1 stage Tour de Suisse

1999
G.P. Miguel Indurain
1 stage Vuelta al Pais Vasco

1998
Tour de Suisse + 2 stages

Cyclingnews interview with Garzelli

No Bartoli and Bettini showdown today

By Tim Maloney, European editor

Michele Bartoli had certainly been thinking about the Giro d'Italia's Stage 2 finish in Liege before he won the Amstel Gold World Cup classic two weeks ago. After all, Bartoli, a two-time winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege knew that the finale was the same as his favourite classic, and the 31 year old Fassa Bortolo man was looking hard for a Giro stage win, his first since 1998. And after all, Bartoli's former gregario Paolo Bettini had now won L-B-L (like his mentor) twice as it happens, and Bartoli wanted to score another win at Liege, even it was "just" a Giro stage. Today, Michele Bartoli had other things on his mind.

Three weeks ago, Bettini and his Mapei Quick Step teammate Stefano Garzelli did a number on everyone at L-B-L, while Bartoli finished behind, out of the money. But Bettini finished out of the money today at the Giro because of a crash and a flat tire at a bad time on the Cote de St. Nicolas with 7 km to go, losing his chance to take over the Maglia Rosa from Mario Cipollini.

"I was right there; we had made the selection", said a disappointed Bettini. "It was a tough break; Boogerd put me into the barriers and so I flatted at the worst possible moment."

When Bettini returned to his hotel, he found that his knee had swelled up. However, he should be OK to start tomorrow's stage according to his Mapei team.

Another disappointed Tuscan was Mario Cipollini, who lost his 1'19" and his pink jersey today in the tough last 8km. "I tried to hang on, but I realized I couldn't do it - the finish was for the climbers, not for me."

Meanwhile, Bartoli, the most disappointed Tuscan of all, was back home in Pisa after a medevac flight home from Germany. Bartoli crashed heavily on the final finishing circuit in Munster yesterday, fracturing his right pelvis and abandoned the Giro. Germany must be bad luck for the Italian "fuoriclasse"; he had a terrible crash in the Tour Of Germany three years ago, all but destroying his knee.

"I'm feeling OK, all things considered", Bartoli told Auro Bulbarelli today of RAI TV via mobile phone. "I slept OK last night and I have to stay flat on my back for a week or so," said he groggy Bartoli. "I have to wait about 6 weeks before I can ride."

Bartoli went on to tell Bulbarelli that after his crash, he felt something wrong inside and just stayed down. "But the crash could have been worse so I'm sure I'll be back", said an upbeat Bartoli

Castellano comments on Euro Giro

The crowd support during the early stages of this year's Giro has been fantastic, putting to rest some of the organisers' fears that the 'Euro Giro' would not be a success. Giro director Carmine Castellano first came up with the idea of a Euro Giro during a visit to Groningen in 1997, the eventual starting place of this year's Giro. The town submitted a proposal to him to host the start of the Giro, and Castellano though it was a good idea (and also a crazy idea).

"I said that if we found other cities to host stages, we would think about it," said Castellano in an interview with AFP. "As 2002 was the year of the Euro, we thought of drawing a line between the six founding countries of Europe. A lot of cities wanted a stage: s'Hertogenbosch and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Sint-Niklaas, Zolder, Waregem, Bruges and the Liege province in Belgium, Munster, Cologne, Leverkusen, Koblenz and Freiburg in Germany. We also had the possibility to go to Strasbourg, the European capital with the European Parliament. We arrive there during the week of the general assembly."

Castellano commented on the TV rights issue, with several countries not willing to pay the high costs for broadcast rights to RAI TV. "We gave RAI permission to sell the external retransmission rights," he said. "But RAI thought more of the economical aspect than the beauty of the race. This problem has direct consequences on the participation."

The contract with RAI runs for another two years. "But we have the possibility to renegotiate the external rights. The leaders of our corporation are already discussing it."

Finally, after the spectacular raids during last year's Giro ripped the heart out of what was turning out to be a very interesting race, what were Castellano's actions vis a vis anti-doping this year?

"The situation was criticised after Sanremo. We set up in conjunction with the Italian government an education program for the young, in the schools, the smaller races, about doping and its dangers. We also came to an agreement with Italian television to bear responsibility for all the expenses involved with anti-doping tests, and with the Federation, in the juniors and espoirs categories."

EU president likes the 'Euro Giro'

The president of the European Union, Roman Prodi, commented favourably about the 'Euro Giro' so far. "It was a marvellous spectacle," he said in Ans today. "It seemed like a crazy idea, but instead this Giro is a grand idea."

Prodi particularly liked the idea of starting in Holland and uniting the six countries, the foundations of the European Community. He also commented about the race: "Cipollini? He resembles a train," said Prodi, a Marco Pantani fan who thinks that this year's route is "not hard."

Giro stage 2 coverage

Full results & report
Live report
Photos

Latest UCI rankings

The UCI has updated its rankings list to coincide with the start of the Giro d'Italia. In the last two weeks, Germany's Erik Zabel (Telekom) has managed to increase his lead over Paolo Bettini (Mapei), courtesy of his win in the Rund um den Henninger Turm, worth a lot of UCI points. In third place still is Dutchman Erik Dekker (Rabobank), who is now fully on the road to recovery after his broken femur in Milan-San Remo.

Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich hold fourth and fifth respectively, with the latter set to lose a lot of points come July as he is not racing the Tour. Defending Giro d'Italia champion Gilberto Simoni could lose a lot of points too, depending on how he performs in the next three weeks. He has slipped from 3rd to 6th place, although not many points separate him from 3rd.

Oscar Freire is back up to eighth spot, Juan Miguel Mercado moves from 15th to 11th, David Millar has climbed up from 29th to 22nd and Cadel Evans has moved up from 42nd to 30th.

The team rankings were fairly static, with Mapei, Lotto and Fassa Bortolo leading division I, and EDS-fakta, Bankgiroloterij-Batavus and Landbouwkrediet-Colnago leading division II.

Rankings as of May 13, 2002


Individuals

1 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom                       2,538.00 pts
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                2,113.20
3 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank                          1,770.00
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service             1,731.00
5 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Telekom                      1,705.00
6 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport           1,630.00
7 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca       1,431.00
8 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step           1,310.00
9 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo            1,255.00
10 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali            1,244.00
11 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa) iBanesto.com      1,232.00
12 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole                   1,167.50
13 Joseba Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) ONCE-Eroski         1,160.00
14 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                 1,143.00
15 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport           1,063.00
16 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo   1,011.00
17 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                  991.95
18 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom              979.00
19 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo   974.00
20 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco                     968.00

Teams

Division I

1 Mapei-Quick Step                            5,034.00 pts
2 Lotto-Adecco                                3,345.00
3 Fassa Bortolo                               3,206.00
4 Cofidis                                     2,929.00
5 Rabobank                                    2,620.00
6 iBanesto.com                                2,495.00
7 Domo-Farm Frites                            2,250.00
8 Team Telekom                                2,209.00
9 Alessio                                     1,964.00
10 Team Coast                                 1,958.00

Division II

1 EDS-fakta                                   1,209.00
2 Bankgiroloterij-Batavus                     1,041.00
3 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                       841.00
4 Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo                      678.00
5 Palmans-Collstrop                             633.00

Full rankings

20 teams entered for First Union Classic

The 14th First Union Classic in Trenton, NJ on June 6 will feature a record 20 professional cycling teams on the starting roster. Three Belgian, three Italian, one Polish, one Australian, one Canadian and eleven American teams with riders from 22 different nationalities will compete in this truly international race.

"Previously, the First Union Classic had fielded 17 teams so expanding to 20 shows tremendous growth for the race," said Robin Morton, First Union Cycling Series Technical Director.

The 2000 and 1999 First Union Classic champs, Fred Rodriguez and George Hincapie, are expected to race. If either wins it would mark the first time in race history that a rider has been a repeat winner. Julian Dean, the 2001 defending champion, is unable to ride this year after a crash during a race earlier in the year ended his 2002 season.

The First Union Classic is the second of the four professional races in the 2002 First Union Cycling Series. The First Union Invitational in Lancaster, PA is on June 4, the First Union Liberty Classic in Philadelphia (for women) and the First Union USPRO Championship (the national road cycling championship for men) in Philadelphia are both held on June 9.

Tighello Suspended

At a Disciplinary and Appeals Committee hearing on Wednesday 8th May 2002, Robert Tighello was found guilty of an offence which occurred on Saturday 24th March 2002 during the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club Criterium.

Robert was suspended for 3 months for this offence. Furthermore, the Committee considered that upon conviction, the previously suspended penalty of 3 months imposed on the 4th September 2001 was automatically invoked.

Therefore, the result is that the licence of Robert Tighello is suspended form the date of notification to him (by email) until 8th November 2002.

Cycling Australia has been notified and in turn will notify the UCI. Robert Tighello has the right of appeal to Cycling Australia.