Stage 2, Sorrento-Baia Domizia, 164 kms:1. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom 4.10.22 (40.500) 2. Jan Svorada (Cze) Mapei 3. Steven De Jongh (Ned) TVM 4. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Cofidis 5. Mario Manzoni (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 6. Dario Pieri (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne 7. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Mapei 8. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Scrigno 9. Federico De Beni (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 10. Rolf Sörensen (Den) Rabobank 11. Davide Casarotto (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne 12. Nicola Loda (Ita) Ballan 13. Pedro Horillo (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 14. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) Polti 15. Roberto Pistore (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 16. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) Kross 16. Germano Pierdomenico (Ita) Cantina Tollo 17. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) Casino 18. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips 19. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros 20. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis 22. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 23. Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 24. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Vini Caldirola 25. Marco Giroletti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 26. Andrea Noe' (Ita) Asics 27. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 28. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM-Farm Frites 29. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Telekom-ARD 30. Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Telekom-ARD 31. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei 32. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross 33. Jens Heppner (Ger) Telekom-ARD 34. Emanuele Lupi (Ita) Amore e Vita 35. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom-ARD 0.25 36. Vincent Cali (Fra) Casino 24.31 37. Marc Streel (Bel) Casino 25.57 38. Marco Vergnani (Ita) Kross 39. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) La Francaise des Jeux 40. Jacky Durand (Fra) Casino 41. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) La Francaise des Jeux 42. Fabian Jeker (Swi) Festina 43. Francesco Frattini (Ita) Telekom-ARD 44. Valerio Tebaldi (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 45. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas 46. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Festina 47. Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Ballan 48. Gianluca Pianegonda (Ita) Mapei 49. Fabrizio Bontempi (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips 50. Luca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola 51. Pascal Richard (Swi) Casino Started 180 Finished 51 Non-classified 125 Retired 4 GC after Stage 2
1. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Scrigno 7.38.12 2. Mario Manzoni (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 0.03 3. Germano Pierdomenico (Ita) Cantina Tollo 0.04 4. Rolf Sörensen (Den) Rabobank 5. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Mapei 6. Nicola Loda (Ita) Ballan 7. Davide Casarotto (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne 8. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) Casino 9. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips 10. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei 11. Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 12. Jens Heppner (Ger) Telekom-ARD 13. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross 14. Andrea Noe' (Ita) Asics 15. Dario Pieri (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne 16. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 17. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 18. Emanuele Lupi (Ita) Amore e Vita 19. Roberto Pistore (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 20. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Vini Caldirola 21. Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Telekom-ARD 22. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros 0.58 23. Steven De Jongh (Ned) TVM 4.51 24. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom 6.06 25. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom-ARD 8.04 26. Horrillo Munoz (Spa) 9.25 27. Jan Svorada (Cze) Mapei 11.33 28. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Cofidis 11.36 29. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) Polti 30. Federico De Beni (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 31. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis 32. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) Kross 33. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Telekom-ARD 34. Marco Giroletti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 35. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM-Farm Frites ... 51. Marco Vergnani (Ita) Kross 37.33 51 still in classification. Brief Report Telekom's Erik Zabel won Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico which was raced in heavy rain and was full of controversy. The 175 km route between Sorrento and Baia Domizia was an essentially flat stage. However in the rain, there was a major crash following a series of smaller falls and eventually the riders protested. The major fall occurred with about 50 kms to go and more than 50 per cent of the field (128 riders) were brought down or otherwise involved. The fallen riders requested that the organisation of the tour halt the race to prevent the leaders from taking an unfair advantage. The organisation denied this request. The result was that a large group of riders rode "piano" into the finish in protest and were some 26 minutes behind the German victor. The conditions were very poor during the first stage and riders also complained. Among those that fell were Italians Michele Bartoli and Maurizio Fondriest. The most serious injury was sustained by Italian Alessandro Spezialetti from the Riso Scotti-MG team who fractured his leg. The leader was reported on Italian radio as saying: "There was a big fall. Everyone fell. I managed to get clear and I chased the leaders." Bartoli also said that the "officials should have restrained those who made a break when the accident happened." The officials, however, merely interpreted the race rules literally which do not allow such a stoppage to occur. The result is now a farcical situation where the 129 riders who protested were ruled "outside the time limit" and have been eliminated from the race. There are now on 51 riders left with 6 stages to go. A top group of 35 riders finished with the same time, with Erik Zabel coming through to win the sprint and show some signs of form that up until now has been absent. Zabel beat Jan Svorada. The Rules The 8 stage Tirreno-Adriatico is divided into three types of stage: easy (flat), undulating and mountain. The second stage between Sorrento-Baia Domizia was considered to be a first category (easy) race and the maximum time limit was set at up to 8 per cent of the winner, based on the average speed of Erik Zabel of 40.501 km/h. In consideration of the adverse climatic conditions, the organisation of the race, decided to make the maximum time limit of 26.11 after the winning time, after invoking a special rule of the race which gives the directors some discretion to deviate from the formula. 125 riders were still outside this time and were thus eliminated. |