84th Milano - Turino, Cat 1.1

Report

Aebersold, 5th on Sunday, and with 6 victories to his credit in 1998, launched the sprint as he came around the last bend and clearly beat Celestino who had tried to bring Rebellin up to the final sprint.

The race was very fast from the beginning: 48.780 the average of the first hour, and 43.212 overall. Oskar Camenzind had agreed to race before his World's win. He had not ridden since Sunday but on the climb of the has intentional to honor its mesh of champion of the world. It had not been trained after the triumph of Valkenburg, but on the climb of the Superga he was very active. Camenzind said that "I have come to Italy to sleep. I could not sleep at home. It was an incredible atmosphere. I am a little tired today. I said to my teammates that I would try to make it over the climb and if I was too tired I would just drop out. After the first climb, it was up to Marco Serpellini and Tafi to launch the challenge for the victory."

But Camenzind was active for the whole race and launched the attack on the climb. He said: "I want to demonstrate that I am worthy of wearing the rainbow jersey. I felt people say - 'Who is this Camenzind that is now the World Champion' - I wanted to make them understand who I am." Camenzind intends to ride the first 100 kms of the Giro di Piemonte on Thursday prior to making an all out assault on the Tour of Lombardy on the weekend.

With Camenzind attacking, a group of 18 riders formed at the front of the race on the climb of the Superga (620 metres) 25 kms from the finish. There was Camenzind, Aebersold, Tafi, Rebellin, Virenque, Garcia, Magnien, Marcus Zberg, Puttini, Rebellin, Sgambelluri and Mazzanti all in the break. During the descent of the Superga, the group split into two with a top group of 7 riders. By the time they reached the closing sections of the race the two groups came back together. With 7 kms to go, Serpellini and Tafi tried to get away from this group but were caught with 2 kms left to ride. Celestino was very active in the closing stages.

As they came into the Fausto Coppi Velodrome in Turin, Puttini led the bunch with Tafi on his wheel. Aebersold and Camenzind showed their dexterity in the velodrome, since their escape companions tried to ride on the inside and the Swiss riders went up the banking, which allowed them to gain a higher speed, with Aebersold winning by half a wheel from Camenzind.

The 26-year old Aebersold from the town of Steffisburg (Canton of Bern) has several notable victories: The 1995 Amateur Championship of Zurich, and the final stage in the 1997 Tour of Switzerland. He said at the end: "I have used my old tactics - attack to the outside on the last bend to get some increased speed. It always works".

Milano - Torino, 198 kms:

  1. Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Post Swiss		     4.50.12 (43.213)
  2. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Mapei-Bricobi
  3. Marco Serpellini (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas
  4. Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux
  5. Marcus Zberg (Swi) Team Post Swiss
  6. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Polti
  7. Mirco Celestino (Ita) Polti
  8. Felice Puttini (Swi) Ros Mary
  9. Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Bricobi
 10. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina
 11. Stefano Cattai (Ita) Ballan
 12. Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Cantina Tollo
 13. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
 14. Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno
 15. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros
 16. Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas
 17. Fabian Jeker (Swi) Festina
 18. Gianluca Valoti (Ita) Polti
 19. Felix M. Garcia Casas (Spa) Festina
 20. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Cantina Tollo			s.t.
 21. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Asics					0.24
 22. Luca Gelfi (Ita) Ros Mary
 23. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Casino
 24. Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Bricobi
 25. Andrea Patuelli (Ita) Amore e Vita				0.32
 26. Frederic Bessy (Fra) Casino
 27. Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
 28. Oscar Pellicioli (Ita) Mercatone Uno
 29. Franz Hotz (Swi) Post Swiss Team
 30. Udo Bolts (Ger) Telekom
 31. Dario Frigo (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 			1.52
 45. Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Ros Mary     			2.30
 51. Wladimir Belli (Ita) Festina
 67. Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 			5.14
 82. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Riso Scotti				7.48
 96. Gianni Bugno (Ita) Mapei-Bricobi  			       10.14
114. Fabio Malberti (Ita) Asics
117. Michele Bartoli (Ita) Asics
118. Luca Scinto (Ita) Asics
133. Denis Lunghi (Ita) Elite				       12.39
135. ? Gierra (Ita)
151. Stefano Zanini (Ita) Mapei-Bricobi
152. Adriano Baffi (Ita) Ballan
153. Daniele Contrini (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas

Started: 186
Finished: 153

Past Winners

1874 Paolo Magretti (Ita)
1894 Luigi Airaldi (Ita)
1996 Giovanni Moro (Ita)
1903 Giovanni Gerbi (Ita)
1905 Giovanni Rossignoli
1911 Henri Pelissier (Fra)
1913 Giuseppe Azzini (Ita)
1914 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1915 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1917 Oscar Egg (Swi)
1918 Gaetano Belloni (Ita)
1919 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1920 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1921 Federico Gay (Ita)
1922 Adriano Zanaga (Ita)
1923 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1924 Federico Gay (Ita)
1925 Adriano Zanaga (Ita)
1931 Giuseppe Graglia (Ita)
1932 Giuseppe Olmo (Ita)
1933 Giuseppe Graglia (Ita)
1934 Mario Cipriani (Ita)
1935 Giovanni Gotti (Ita)
1936 Cesare Del Cancia (Ita)
1937 Giuseppe Martano (Ita)
1938 Pierino Favalli (Ita)
1939 Pierino Favalli (Ita)
1940 Pierino Favalli (Ita)
1941 Piero Chiappini (Ita)
1942 Piero Chiappini (Ita)
1945 Vito Ortelli (Ita)
1946 Vito Ortelli (Ita)
1947 Italo De Zan (Ita)
1948 Sergio Maggini (Ita)
1949 Luigi Casola (Ita)
1950 Adolfo Crosso (Ita)
1951 Fiorenzo Magni (Ita)
1952 Aldo Bini (Ita)
1953 Luciano Maggini (Ita)
1954 Agostino Coletta (Ita)
1955 Cleto Maule (Ita)
1956 Ferdi Kübler (Swi)
1957 Miguel Poblet (Spa)
1958 Agostino Coletto (Ita)
1959 Nello Fabbri (Ita)
1960 Arnaldo Pambianco (Ita)
1961 Walter Martin (Ita)
1962 Franco Balmamion (Ita)
1963 Franco Cribiori (Ita)
1964 Valentin Uriona (Spa)
1965 Vittorio Taccone (Ita)
1966 Marino Vigna (Ita)
1967 Gianni Motta (Ita)
1968 Franco Bitossi (Ita)
1969 Claudio Micheletto (Ita)
1970 Luciano Armani (Ita)
1971 Georges Pintens (Bel)
1972 Roger De Vlaeminck (Bel)
1973 Marcello Bergamo (Ita)
1974 Roger De Vlaeminck (Bel)
1975 Wladimiro Panizza (Ita)
1976 Enrio Paolini (Ita)
1977 Rik Van Linden (Bel)
1978 Pierino Gavazzi (Ita)
1979 Alfio Vandi (Ita)
1980 Giovanni Battaglin (Ita)
1981 Giuseppe Martinelli (Ita)
1982 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1983 Francesco Moser (Ita)
1984 Paolo Rosola (Ita)
1985 Daniele Caroli (Ita)
1987 Phil Anderson (Aus)
1988 Rolf Gölz (Ger)
1989 Rolf Gölz (Ger)
1990 Mauro Gianetti (Swi)
1991 Davide Cassani (Ita)
1992 Gianni Bugno (Ita)
1993 Rolf Sörensen (Den)
1994 Francesco Casagrande (Ita)
1995 Stefano Zanini (Ita)
1996 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
1997 Laurent Jalabert (Fra)