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83rd Giro d'Italia - GTItaly, May 13 - June 4, 2000 |
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Main Page Results Previous stage Photos
Stage 15 - May 29: Bormio to Brescia, 171 km
Vicioso DQ'd after irregular sprint
By Gabriella Ekström, cyclingnews.com correspondent
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The rain starts to fall, and that's about everything that has happened until now, during this stage. Voskamp punctures at a time when he and Diego have 1.12 to the bunch. They are likely to be caught though, with or without a puncture, 'cause this is a day made for the sprinters. Those who remain, that is. Cipo, McEwen, Quaranta and Cei has gone home, but riders like Zanotti, Svorada, Bljilevens, Konyshev, Martinello, Petacchi, Conte and Pieri are still in the race.
This is the typical day where rideres are chatting to each other, the Italian riders are making fools of themselves, TV commentators are talking about the local wine, and Filippo Casagrande is chasing an MC driver! Obviously something's wrong with his driving, as if we didn't already know that. Maybe something has occurred in one of the many dark tunnels the riders has passed through during the day.
The gap to Diego and Bart has now grown to three minutes. They are riding alongside a giant beautiful lake. One of those we would like to by a house at, and then send down our mothers to live in. Massimo Donati and Marco Milesi haven't agreed with the camera guy yet. Let's face it, you guys are always where you shouldn't be! That's for the vehicles, and not the poor guys beeing run over by them.
A big expensive motorboat follows the riders along the lake. I remember when it used to be horses. :-) All the teams who have one of the sprinters mentioned above have gone to the front now. With 30 k's to go, the gap is down to 50 seconds. Danilo Di Luca cruises along at the back of the bunch, beeing friendly to his fans. When the peloton gets the duo within sight, the Norweigan rider from Linda McCartney, Björnar Vestöl, attacks. He is in the lead when they pass over the line for the first time. They will ride three six kilometers laps in Brescia. Vestöl puts up a different speed when he reaches the front group. Voskamp and Ferrari look surprised, as if they were thinking; "Man, I was really going slow, wasn't I?", then they follow Vestöl. In the middle of the lap comes a little surprise, it is a paved climb with a few nasty serpentines in it. It is difficult for the peloton to catch the three riders right there, but they are likely to do it after. A handful of riders crashes in one of the curves, but no-one seems to be seriously injured.
As expected the gap to the leaders is closed right after the climb. Oscar Sevilla fron Kelme attacks, and the chase makes the riders at the lower echelons of the peloton suffer. When Sevilla is caught, Vladimir Douma from Panaria counters, and he gets a fair gap. He is caught when they pass the climb for the second time. Oscar Pozzi from Amica Chips is the first rider to pass, and he climbs well and decides to go for it when he sees that he gets a gap. As they enter the third lap he gets companied by Mirko Gualdi from Mobilvetta. The pace is very high, and it's easy to se why the riders don't like circuits like this. It is risky, slippery, a lot of white lines and sometimes even rails in the streets. On top of that, it seems as though more riders are trying to get away on a circuit, riders who wouldn't dream of disturbing Cipollini's train during a proper sprint. It is both good and bad, but always dangerous. A city circuit is what gives the sport new spectators though.
Casagrande's Vini Caldirola has moved up to the front with five k's to go. They're not there for the sprint. The only thing they want is to keep Checo out of trouble. Fabiano Fontanelli from Mercatone Uno makes an attack, Dimitri Konyshev chases after him. More riders bridge up to them, among them, Linda McCartney's Max Sciandri. In fact he's everyone's Max! Everybody looks so happy when they talk about Max.
The more riders that bridge across to the front group, the less chance they have to stay away. Yeah, Konyshev is upset, Gabriele Missaglia from Lampre doesn't want to work, the pace is sowing down. Fontanelli jumps a second time, but the peloton is very close now. A new crash in the final lap, again the serpentines on the climb did it. Riders from Polti, Banesto and Aguardiente Selle Italia are involved. Marco Della Vedova from Lampre bridges up to Fontanelli, and so does Max. The peloton catches them. Gabriele Missaglia counters when the group is beeing brought back.
He is the first rider under the red flag, but then Fassa Bortolo takes over. A big crash in the middle of the bunch brings several riders down. The sprint is already on. Mario Scirea from Saeco tbinks that he is leading Biagio Conte out, but actually it is Angel Vicioso from Kelme who sits behind the Italian. Ruben Marin from Selle Italia rides at the front for some reason. Scirea is furious and takes a handful of his jersey to pull him back. Makes you wonder if Saeco has ever heard the word 'etiquette'?
Silvio Martinello from Polti passes Scirea's right side, and at the same time Vicioso passes him on the other. It gets tight between Vicioso and Martinello, but the Spaniard squeezes past, pushing Martinello away a bit, probably not with the intention of doing so. Alessandro Petacchi from Fassa Bortolo tries to follow the left barriers, while Conte who was actually somewhere close to the top leaves his wheel and finds his way past Petacchi and Martinello to take the second place. The first place goes, very surprisingly to Angel Vicioso from Kelme.
However, 40 minutes later he is disqualified by the race jury for holding obstructing Martinello with 150 metres to go, and the win is awarded to Conte instead.