33rd Tirreno Adriatico, Hors Category

Italy, March 11-18, 1998


Stage 6, Teramo - Frontone, 224 kms:

  1. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Telekom-ADR	      5.56.52
  2. Fabian Jeker (Swi) Festina				 0.02
  3. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei			 0.38
  4. Jens Heppner (Germany) Telekom-ADR			 0.38
  5. Rolf Jaermann (Switzerland)              		 0.38
  6. Pascal Richard (Swi) Casino			 2.48
  7. Fabrizio Bontempi (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips	 9.44
  8. Luca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola			 9.45
  9. Jacky Durand (Fra) Casino				 9.48
 10. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros	       	13.57
 11. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas 
 12. Vincent Cali (Fra) Casino 
 13. Germano Pierdomenico (Ita) Cantina Tollo
 14. Nicola Loda (Ita) Ballan
 15. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Mapei
 16. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips
 17. Rolf Sörensen (Den) Rabobank
 18. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM				14.00
 19. Davide Casarotto (Ita)  Scrigno-Gaerne
 20. Valerio Tebaldi (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave
 21. Mario Manzoni (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave
 22. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) La Francaise des Jeux 	14.02
 23. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross
 24. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Vini Caldirola
 25. Roberto Pistore (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG
 26. Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG
 27. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) Polti
 28. Emanuele Lupi (Ita) Amore e Vita
 29. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom-ADR
 30. Marc Streel (Bel) Casino
 31. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom-ARD
 32. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) La Francaise des Jeux
 33. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Festina
 34. Pedro Horillo (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros
 35. Francesco Frattini (Ita) Telekom-ARD
 36. Gianluca Pianegonda (Ita) Mapei
 37. Steven de Jongh (Ned) TVM
 38. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Cofidis
 39. Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Telekom-ARD
 40. Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Ballan
 41. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne
 42. Dario Pieri (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne
 43. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM-Farm Frites
 44. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis
 45. Marco Giroletti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave
 46. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) Kross
 47. Marco Vergnani (Ita) Kross 			14.12

Started 50 
Finished 47 
Retired: 
Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina
Jan Svorada (Cze) Mapei 
Federico De Beni (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG

GC after Stage 6

  1. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) Casino			     29.24.15
  2. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei			 0.14
  3. Jens Heppner (Ger) Telekom-ADR			 0.51
  4. Rolf Sorensen (Den) Rabobank		       	13.16
  5. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Mapei			13.22
  6. Germano Pierdomenico (Ita) Cantina Tollo	       	13.23
  7. Nicola Loda (Ita) Ballan                           13.25
  8. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary                  13.25
  9. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM                           13.27
 10. Davide Casarotto (Ita)  Scrigno-Gaerne             13.28
 11. Roberto Pistore (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 		13.29
 12. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross 			13.30
 13. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Vini Caldirola		13.30
 14. Mario Manzoni (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 		13.46
 15. Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 		13.48
 16. Emanuele Lupi (Ita) Amore e Vita 			13.57
 17. Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Telekom-ARD 			14.15
 18. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros		14.18
 19. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom-ADR 			19.22
 20. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne		24.13
 21. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Telekom-ADR 		24.37
 22. Dario Pieri (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne 			24.49
 24. Fabian Jeker (Swi) Festina 			28.45
 26. Pedro Horillo (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 		33.40
 27. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Cofidis 		35.51
 29. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) Polti 			36.32
 32. Pascal Richard (Swi) Casin 			39.44
 33. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas 		40.40
 34. Valerio Tebaldi (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 	41.18
 35. Gianluca Pianegonda (Ita) Mapei 			41.37
 36. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) Kross 			41.49
 37. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Festina 			42.48
 38. Luca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola 			49.54
 39. Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Ballan 			50.08
 47. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) La Francaise des Jeux       1.10.11

Brief Report

Frenchman and current World champion Laurent Brochard from the Festina team retired from Tirreno-Adriatico in this stage after being involved in a major crash after only 50 kms into the stage. He had stopped for a "piss break" and was chasing to regain contact with the peloton. He took evasive action to avoid smashing into a rider who had stopped suddenly and hit another cyclist then crashed into a car.

The outcome was a trip to the hospital and several sutures in his cut right leg. He will be off his bike for 10 days.

Telekom-ADR's Giovanni Lombardi (Italy) won the stage and Rolf Jaermann took over the GC after the pair had figured in a six man break which shattered the field. Overnight GC leader Rolf Sorensen lost nearly 14 minutes.

From Rolf Jaermann's Diary

Corredonia, 16 March, stage 6 Tirreno - Adriatico

I'm the leader now and that is a good feeling. After a bonification sprint we had a group of 6: Ballerini, Jeker, Heppner, Lombardi, Richard and me. It was all or nothing. We had 1 minute on the peloton for 60 km and then they stopped chasing us. It was heavy and fast. After the 130 km flight we arrived with 13 minutes on the peloton at the finish. Of course I hoped to win the stage, but Telekom deserved it with Lombardie. And it's better to keep Telekom who still have six riders in the race as friends....