4th International Women's Tour of Tuscany

Main Page Stage 2, Firenze - Pisa 115Km By Tomas Nilsson On Wednesday's Stage Two Gabriella Pregnolato of Italy sailed home 43 seconds ahead of a chase group with Britain's Sara Symington taking the sprint for second spot ahead of home turf rider Tamara Farnocchia. Pregnolato's victory today gave her the overall lead with Pucinskaite and Bellutti in second and third spots respectively. Stage report from Karen Kurreck: So far this race has been well organized and we've had lots of spectators. We are staying at a really nice hotel here in Tuscany with great food. It is out in the country on a little river. I think the rooms were designed by midgets though! Especially the bathroom. I have to sit sideways on the toilet to avoid hitting my knees on the shower stall!! Stage 1 was 115km with 2 cat 3 climbs. We started out with an 18km neutral through downtown Florence. It took us 50 min! We kept having to stop to try to maneuver the entire race caravan through city traffic. Kind of crazy! With Edita in the leader's jersey and the hardest climbing stage the next day, the Dream Team seemed mostly interested in keeping the field together. Edita spent the whole day back mid-pack and only appeared at the front for the climbs. There were a lot of attacks but nothing got anywhere at all. With 50km to go, it started to rain and soon turned into a downpour. That's when things got interesting. It wasn't cold, but just extremely slick. I could barely see a thing between the rain and grit and fog in my glasses. I could pick out the bright orange Dream Team jersies but that was about it. We seemed to take all the turns at about 10mph, but still there were crashes in almost every one. I'm sure half the peleton went down at one time or another. The 2nd climb was at 89km and it was a short steep thing in a town on a tiny road. I just tried to stay up front and out of trouble. Everyone else had the same thoughts. Diana Ziluite took action and rode tempo at the front at about 40-42kph for at least 10km before the climb. Her teammates also went to the front later to help out. We split a little on the climb but gaps were small. I went over in the front group of 10 or so and Gabriella Pregnolato went barrelling down the descent and dropped us all. She is really pretty crazy. A British rider crashed in front of me on the descent, disrupting our chase somewhat but we eventually caught Gabriella and the rest of the field caught on later as well. With about 10km to go, I covered a small break and as we were caught, Gabriella counters and gets a gap. With her fearless descending and cornering in the rain, she is very quickly out of sight. There is somewhat of a chase, but most people are concerned mostly about safety. Still there are crashes right and left. With 250m to go, we round the final corner and I can see the finish banner. I'm in about 6th or 7th position. I am just about to heave a sigh of relief that I have survived the stage when all the riders in front of me slide out in the turn! We are going less than 10mph, but I have nowhere to go but into them. We all get up pretty quickly and I manage to come in still in the back half of the peleton. It was a slow motion fall, but I somehow managed to sprain my little finger. No real damage though. Sarah Symington of Great Britian wins the field sprint for 2nd. Gabriella won by 43 seconds and takes over the leader's jersey from her teammate.   1. Gabriella Pregnolato (Ita) Acca Due O Lorena Mista 1 2.56.36 2. Sara Symington (Gbr) England 0.43 3. Tamara Farnocchia (Ita) GSF Selena Rama 4. Elisa Neri (Ita) Team Selene Rama Mista 2 5. Kristina Obrucova (Cze) GC Mimosa/Czech Republic 6. Barbara Heeb (Swi) Nürnberger Emmi 7. Simona Sagramoni (Ita) GSF Selena Rama 8. Alessandra D'Ettorre (Ita) GSF Selena Rama 9. Gulnara Ivanova (Rus) Russia 10. Lucia Pizzoloto (Ita) SC Master Molteni GC after stage 2 1. Gabriella Pregnolato (Ita) Acca Due O Lorena Mista 1 3.03.03 2. Edita Pucinskaite (Lit) Acca Due O Lorena Lituania 0.48 3. Antonella Bellutti (Ita) Team Selene Rama Mista 2 4. Elena Tchalich(Rus) Russia 0.49 5. Vera Carrara (Ita) Team Selene Rama Mista 2 0.57 Further Details Soon!