33rd Tirreno Adriatico, Hors Category

Italy, March 11-18, 1998


Stage 8, San Benedetto del Tronto-San Benedetto del Tronto, 166 kms:

  1. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom-ADR			4.47.13
  3. Steven de Jongh (Ned) TVM
  2. Mario Manzoni (Ita)Mobilvetta-Northwave
  4. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Cofidis
  5. Dario Pieri (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne
  6. Jacky Durand (Fra) Casino
  7. Pedro Horillo (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros
  8. Marco Giroletti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave
  9. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross
 10. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) Polti
 11. Gianluca Pianegonda (Ita) Mapei
 12. Fabrizio Bontempi (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips
 13. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne
 14. Roberto Pistore (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG
 15. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) Kross
 16. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Telekom-ADR
 17. Gianluca Sironi (Ita)
 18. Nicola Loda (Ita) Ballan
 19. Rolf Sorensen (Den) Rabobank
 20. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros
 21. Marc Streel (Bel) Casino
 22. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips
 23. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM
 24. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Mapei
 25. Germano Pierdomenico (Ita) CantinaTollo
 27. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) La Francaise desJeux
 31. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Festina
 34. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei
 36. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) Casino
 39. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM-Farm Frites
 42. Pascal Richard (Swi) Casino

Final GC

  1. Rolf Jaermann (Swi) Casino			       38.27.30
  2. Franco Ballerini (Ita) Mapei			   0.04
  3. Jens Heppner (Ger) Telekom-ADR			   1.15
  4. Rolf Sorensen (Den) Rabobank		       	  13.15
  5. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Mapei			  13.20
  6. Germano Pierdomenico (Ita) Cantina Tollo	       	  13.22
  7. Nicola Loda (Ita) Ballan                             13.23
  8. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary                    13.25
  9. Roberto Pistore (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG 		  13.27
 10. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM                             13.27
 11. Davide Casarotto (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne		  13.28
 12. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross			  13.30
 13. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Vini Caldirola		  13.30
 14. Mario Manzoni (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave		  13.43
 15. Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Riso Scotti-MG		  13.48
 16. Emanuele Lupi (Ita) Amore e Vita			  13.57
 17. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros		  14.18
 18. Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Telekom-ARD			  14.34
 19. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom-ADR		  	  19.16
 20. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne		  24.13
 21. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Telekom-ADR		  24.37
 22. Dario Pieri (Ita) Scrigno-Gaerne			  24.49
 23. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis			  27.41
 24. Fabian Jeker (Swi) Festina				  28.57
 25. Steven de Jongh (Ned) TVM 				  31.23
 26. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Cofidis 		  35.51
 27. Pedro Horillo (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 		  36.15
 28. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom-AR			  36.15
 29. Mirco Crepaldi (Ita) Polti 			  36.32
 30. Laurent Roux (Fra) TVM-Farm Frites 		  37.20
 31. Vincent Cali (Fra) Casino 			  	  38.25
 32. Pascal Richard (Swi) Casino 			  39.56
 33. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas	 	  40.40
 34. Gianluca Pianegonda (Ita) Mapei 			  41.37
 35. Valerio Tebaldi (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 	  41.41
 36. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Festina 			  42.48
 37. Gianluca Pierobon (Ita) Kross 			  50.44
 38. Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Ballan 			  50.59
 39. Luca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola 			  52.29
 40. Marco Vergnani (Ita) Kross 			  52.41
 41. Marco Giroletti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 	  59.17
 42. Fabrizio Bontempi (Ita) Ros Mary - Amica Chips 	1.01.00
 43. Flavio Vanzella (Ita) La Francaise des Jeux 	1.02.04
 44. Francesco Frattini (Ita) Telekom-ARD 		1.02.51
 45. Jacky Durand (Fra) Casino 				1.05.03
 46. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) La Francaise des Jeux 	1.12.46
 47. Marc Streel (Bel) Casino 				1.12.52

Brief Report

Germany's 27-year old Erik Zabel confirmed that his form has returned just in time for the first round of the World Cup - Milan-San Remo by winning his third stage in the Tirreno-Adriatico and the second in two days.

The final stage was pedestrian by any standards. Jaermann tracked Franco Ballerini throughout aiming to stop him gaining the 4 secs he needed. Jaermann's Casino team controlled the tempo all day with 3 or 4 riders always in front of the peloton. Casino was helped in the last kilometers by Telekom, who wanted to setup their sprinter Zabel, without a doubt the fastest of the 50 riders left.

Telekom's work for Zabel was effective and he was came out of the right of the peloton to seal the win. Ballerini, even with the bonus seconds up for grabs, didn't try to contest the sprint.

The event had a hollow ring to it from the time that officials eliminated the 129 riders who protested over an accident on day 2.

Rolf writes:

I made it. I won Tirreno - Adriatico and that is a great feeling. The last stage was very quiet and all the riders were empty and so I had no further problems. It's unbelieveble how many friends and colleagues you suddenly have. Even other riders of other teams were very kind to me. They asked me before the start - is it allowed to ride for the bonifications and do i let them go in the finale.