Trofeo Laigueglia - Cat. 1.4

Italy, February 14, 2000

Nardello strikes first

Daniele Nardello (Ita, Mapei) has won the Laigueglia trophy, the traditional inauguration of the Italian road season. The Italian rider was part of a 4 main breakaway that escaped with 25 kilometers to go, holding off the bunch by 25 seconds at the finish.

Attacks came from the peloton by Kristof Trouvé (Vlaanderen 2002), Oscar Camenzind (Lampre) and Mirko Celestino (Polti), as well as Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), however none were successful in bridging the gap to the four leaders. Although Fassa Bortolo hard two riders in the break - Roberto Petito (Ita) and Tadej Valjavec (Slo), they were not strong enough to use their numbers to advantage. The other member of the breakaway, Andrei Kivilev (Kaz, Ag2r) was content to stay with the break to try his legs in a sprint.

In in the closing kilometers, Valjavec worked hard for Petito and was dropped a little by the end. However, Petito was not able to overcome Nardello in the sprint. Out of 190 starters, there were 119 who made it to the end.

Before the race there were fears for a strike among the riders against the anti doping actions of the Italian Olympic Committee. However, an official statement from the Italian Association of Cyclists was read before the race started over the loudspeakers, protesting against the "indictment based on simple accusations" of Ivan Gotti and four other riders suspected of doping.

Results - 176 kms

1. Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step         4.19.20 (40.711 km/h)
2. Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
3. Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) AG2r Prévoyance-Décathlon
4. Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo                 0.09
5. Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                        0.25
6. Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance-Décathlon
7. Mauro Zinetti (Ita) Colpack
8. Nicolas Zandarin (Ita) Allessia-Banca SMG
9. Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
10. Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Team Polti
11. Guillano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
12. Cyrille Saugrain (Fra) Francaise des Jeux
13. Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Vini Caldirola
14. Danilo Di Luca (Ita)  Cantina Tollo
15. Oscar Camenzind (Svi) Lampre-Daikin
16. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
17. David Delrieu (Fra) AG2r
18. Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
19. Merckx (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step
20. Ivan Basso (Ita) Amica Chips
21. Tom Leaper (Aus) Panaria-Gaerne
22. Mirko Celestino (Ita) Team Polti
23. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
24. Branko Filip (Slo) Team Gerolsteiner
25. Volodymyr Gustov (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo
26. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Valli&Valli

190 starters
71 finished