70th Tour of Veneto, Cat 1.1

Italy, August 29, 1998


Past Winners

Preview:

Michele Bartoli is the favourite for the Tour of Veneto who is leading the World Cup after a decisive win in Zurich last weekend and who has confirmed he is the strongest rider in the one-day classics.

Bartoli is in splendid shape and has just the condition for the World Championship road race at Valkenburg in October. Bartoli knows he must keep this form and plans to race in all, or nearly all, the major Italian races and some of the foreign races like Paris-Brussels and the GP de Fourmies.

Bartoli told the press that the Tour of Veneto is a goal: "The team is providing me with exceptional support and the course is okay for me. But there are other riders who are in form like Tafi and also those riders who just finished the Tour of Portugal."

Andrea Tafi, at least on the paper, seems the more threatening adversary. "Yes. We will try not let him out of sight. He will surely attack. Patience is the key." An easy-going Bartoli? "No, I will be trying hard to win but not at all costs."

The 70th Tour of Veneto returns to the heart of Padova. Tafi knows that he will have to get support from his team to beat Bartoli. He knows he will have to attack Bartoli - to take the race up to him. He said: "I have no other choice because he is faster than me. My strength is to attack when it is not expected. Thus, I will try to use the conditions to try to force a solution. But it will only be possible if I have the support of my team."

Tafi obviously is referring back to last Sunday in Zurich when he failed to reach an understanding with his teammate and they both lost to Bartoli. He clarified the claims that there was a controversy within the team: "There is no controversy. But for the Tour of Veneto the team will have to clarify the strategy clearly. We have to decide if I am to be supported. Like in the Coppa Agostini when I was well supported."

Tafi doesn't know the course for this edition of the Tour but says there are no major hurdles for him. I have been climbing well.

Other threats for Bartoli include Marco Serpellini and Valentino Fois who recently finished the Tour of Portugal. And Davide Rebellin, who recently won the Tre Valli Varesine, is motivated because the race is near his home and he is also chasing the World Championships. Leonardo Piepoli and Massimo Donati are also in great form having just dominated the Trofeo della Scalatore.

Race Report:

It was a fantastic race - the Tour of Veneto, returning to the heart of Padova after failing to be staged last year. It was very lively and was fought out to the end. Davide Rebellin, who began his professional career at Camaiore in August 1992 along with Marco Pantani, deserved his 11th victory of the season because he was he most authoritative rider at the end, just when the race demanded some decisive action.

With 9 kms to go, Rebellin attacked with Faresin, Simeoni and Rodolfo Ongarato tacked on behind. The quartet contained three local riders and they stayed away until the end at Prato della Valle. Ongarato was penalised in the sprint for failing to keep his line. Rebellin was faster than Faresin, both in front of their tifosi. The significance of this win for the coming World Championships in Valkenburg on October 11 cannot be understated. But that will give the Italians some cause for headache. Whether they trust Rebellin, who appears to be more reliable than Bartoli, who is the strongest one-day rider this year. Not a bad choice though.

The race was marked by an early escape at the 30 kms mark by Fabio Roscioli and Gianluca Pierobon. Roscioli is not new to these sort of solo rides. Recall that he won the stage to Marseilles in the 1993 Tour de France after a 214 kms escape. Many riders abandoned after a nasty fall on the descent of Saint Gottardo. The race was coming together with 40 kms to go. On the climb of Castelnovo (35 km to go) Roscioli was now tiring and Piepoli attacking from the bunch caught him. He was accompanied by Bartoli and Tafi. But the Italian Champion fell (Faresin said that Tafi was on his wheel and fell on an oil spot). Bartoli attacked to no avail. There were many more attacks untilwith 9 kms to go, the winning quartet was formed.

Rebellin said later that he now hoped to win the Worlds and the Tour of Lombardy before the season was out.

Prato della Valle, 200 kms:

  1. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Polti			     4.40.44 (42.149)
  2. Gianni Faresin (Ita) Mapei-Bricobi
  3. Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Asics
  4. Rodolfo Ongarato (Ita) Ballan
  5. Fabio Baldato (Ita) Riso Scotti				0.29
  6. Marco Serpellini (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas
  7. Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Bricobi
  8. Michele Bartoli (Ita) Asics
  9. Alexandre Gontchenkov (Rus) Ballan
 10. Mirko Celestino (Ita) Polti
 11. Maurizio De Pasquale (Ita) Amore e Vita
 12. Oskar Camenzind (Swi) Mapei-Bricobi
 13. Dario Frigo (Ita) Saeco
 14. Alessandro Baronti (Ita) Cantina Tollo
 15. Massimo Donati (Ita) Saeco
 16. Cristiano Frattini (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas
 17. Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Cantina Tollo
 18. Emanuele Lupi (Ita) Amore e Vita
 19. Felice Puttini (Swi) Ros Mary
 20. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saeco
 21. Daniel Atienza Urendeze (Spa) Polti			0.32
 22. Oscar Mason (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas			0.40
 23. Stefano Colage (Ita) Cantina Tollo				0.55
 24. Mirko Gualdi (Ita) Polti
 25. Guido Trenti (Ita) Cantina Tollo
 30. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary
102. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mapei-Bricobi				7.58

Started: 134
Finished: 105

Past Winners

The first edition of this race was in 1909. There was no race in the years 1910-11, 1913-21, 1929, 1932-33, 1937, 1940, 1943-44, 1946, and 1997.

1909	Pogliani (Ita)
1910	no event
1911	no event
1912	Giovanni Roncon (Ita)
1922	Alfredo Sivocci (Ita)
1923	Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1924	Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1925	Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1926	Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1927	Alfonso Piccin (Ita)
1928	Alfredo Binda (Ita)
1930	Aldo Canazza (Ita)
1931	Aldo Canazza (Ita)
1934	Aldo Canazza (Ita)
1935	Vasco Bergamaschi (Ita)
1936	Renato Scorticati (Ita)
1938	Secondo Magni (Ita)
1939	Adolfo Leoni (Ita)
1941	Fausto Coppi (Ita)
1942	Pierino Favalli (Ita)
1945	Luigi Casola (Ita)
1947	Fausto Coppi (Ita)
1948	Luciano Maggini (Ita)
1949	Fausto Coppi (Ita)
1950	Luigi Casola (Ita)
1951	Antonio Bevilacqua (Ita)
1952	Adolfo Grosso (Ita)
1953	Fiorenzo Magni (Ita)
1954	Luciano Maggini (Ita)
1955	Adolfo Grosso (Ita)
1956	Giorgio Albani (Ita)
1957	Angelo Conterno (Ita)
1958	Adriano Zamboni (Ita)
1959	Rino Benedetti (Ita)
1960	Diego Ronchini (Ita)
1961	Nino Defilippis (Ita)
1962	Angelino Soler (Spa)
1963	Italo Zilioli (Ita)
1964	Italo Zilioli (Ita)
1965	Michele Dancelli (Ita)
1966	Michele Dancelli (Ita)
1967	Luciano Galbo (Ita)
1968	Alberto Della-Torre (Ita)
1969	Mino Denti (Ita)
1970	Franco Bitossi (Ita)
1971	Giancarlo Polidori (Ita)
1972	Enrico Paolini (Ita)
1973	Franco Bitosssi (Ita)
1974	Roger De Vlaeminck (Bel)
1975	Roland Salm (Swi)
1976	Alfio Vandi (Ita)
1977	Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1978	Valerio Lualdi (Ita)
1979	Francesco Moser (Ita)
1980	Carmelo Barone (Ita)
1981	Giovanni Mantovani (Ita)
1982	Pierino Gavazzi (Ita)
1983	Jesper Worre (Den)
1984	Moreno Argentin (Ita)
1985	Claudio Corti (Ita)
1986	Maurizio Rossi (Ita)
1987	Gerhard Zadrobilek (Aut)
1988	Moreno Argentin (Ita)
1989	Roberto Pagnin (Ita)
1990	Massimo Ghirotto (Ita)
1991	Roberto Pagnin (Ita)
1992	Massimo Ghirotto (Ita)
1993	Maximilian Sciandri (Ita)
1994	Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)
1995	Flavio Vanzella (Ita)
1996	Michele Bartoli (Ita)
1997	no event
Past winners are from Mario Stiehl, Berlin