30th Settimana Ciclista Lombarda - 2.4

Italy, April 12-16, 2000

Stage 4 - April 15: Roncadelle-Roncadelle, 179 km

Garzelli to the rescue

Mercatone Uno has been suffering of late due to Pantani's absence. As he is the undisputed leader of the team, when he falls, the rest seem a little directionless. Today one of their better riders, Stefano Garzelli, won stage four of the Settimana Ciclista Lombarda (formerly the Settimana Bergamesca).

The 180 kilometre stage was held on a circuit around the hilly area of Roncadelle, but was failry uneventful. The only escape of note was that of Italian rider, Guiseppe di Fresco for 60 kilometres, however he was caught well before the end.

On the final climb, Garzelli attacked taking with him the top riders on GC, including Ukranian Serguei Gontchar and Gilberto Simoni, who finished behind him in that order on the stage. Gontchar has seven seconds now over Simoni coming into tomorrow's final stage. French rider, Didier Rous (Bonjour) moved up a place to third ih in the overall after staying with the leaders in today's stage.

Results

1. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom     5.06.53 (35.173 km/h)
2. Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) Liquigas-Pata 
3. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin  
4. Nicola Miceli (Ita) Alessio-Cerchi SGM  
5. Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour-Tourpargel
6. Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin  
7. Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Panaria-Gaerne  
8. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom  
9. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 	0.10 
10. Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Cantina Tollo

General classification after stage 3:

1. Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) Liquigas-Pata        	    18.10.53 
2. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin                  0.07
3. Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel                  0.10
4. Nicola Miceli (Ita) Alessio-Banca SMG           	0.16
5. Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin        	0.19
6. Volodymyr Gustov (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo      		0.26
7. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom		0.32
8. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec      0.36
9. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom   	0.39
10. Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Amica Chips-Tacconi Sport         0.42