31st Giro Ciclistico d'Italia Internazionale U26 - 2.6

Italy, June 12- 24, 2001

Stage 1 - June 12: Castelfranco Veneto-Castelfranco Veneto, 149 km

Gambazza first in pink

Patrizio Gambazza is the first leader of the Giro d'Italia Elite Under 26. The Podenzano Italfine rider today won the 149 km first stage of the Giro in Castelfranco Veneto. He outsprinted Claudio Lucchini (Zoccorinese Vellutex).

The stage was decided early on when 11 riders broke clear on the last of the town circuits before heading towards the climbs. On the second time up the climb of the Forcella Mostacin the leading group broke up after Andrea Moletta (Zalf Euromobil Fior) rode hard on the front.

In the final part of the race, there lots of attacks until Gambazza won the sprint ahead of Lucchini. Antonio D'Aniello won the bunch sprint two seconds behind.

"I want to dedicate this win to my girlfriend Sara," Gambazza said after pulling the leader's pink jersey, "To my directeur sportifs and my family who convinced me to carry on cycling last year when I had to do my military service and was thinking about stopping racing."

For Gambazza 20 years-old from Fidenza near Parma, the stage is his first International win. Tomorrow he will have to defend his pink jersey in the Este-Este stage over 153 km. This second stage is quite difficult with four climbs, at Teolo 42km, Castelnuovo km 69, Passo Roverello 83km, and only 5.6km from the finish at Calaone.

Results

1 Patrizio Gambazza (Ita) Podenzano Italfine- Juvenes Sterilton   3.21.10 (44.441 km/h) 
2 Claudio Lucchini (Ita) Zoccorinese Vellutex/Team Casini                
3 Antonio D'aniello (Ita) Cycling Team Casprini Pitti Shoes          0.02
4 Andrea Moletta (Ita) Zalf Euromobil Fior                
5 Gian Luca Cavalli (Ita) Vezza Brunero Boeris                
6 Roland Pichler (Ita) MG Boy's Aqua                         
7 Wolodimir Starchik (Ukr) Team Parolin Fis Uniconfort                 
8 Luca Solari (Ita) San Pellegrino Bottoli Artoni                
9 Marco Bompadre (Ita) C. Calzatura Civitanova M.Granaro                
10 Maurizio Varini (Ita) Sintofarm Feralpi                
11 Mario Russo (Ita) Reda Baggioni Mulinari                
12 Ezio Casagrande (Ita) Site-Frezza- Mattiuzzo -Saf                 0.10
13 Andrei Karpatchev (Rus) Luigi Maserati Synclean                   0.14
14 Marco Zendron (Ita) Team Parolin Fis Uniconfort                 
15 Sergey Krushevskiy (Uzb) Uzbekistan National Team                 0.26
16 Santo Anza' (Ita) Zoccorinese Vellutex/Team Casini                
17 Nicola Pavone (Ita) Podenzano Italfine- Juvenes Sterilton            
18 Claudio Pizzoferrato (Ita) Cer.Che Pagnoncelli Fmb Perrel           
19 Francesco Raspa (Ita) C. Calzatura Civitanova M.Granaro                
20 Denis Bondarenko (Rus) Resine Ragnoli Garda Rifra P.                
21 Jan Chrobak (Cze) Zalf Euromobil Fior                
22 Yuri Stella (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei Cassamarca                
23 Carmelo Maurici (Ita) Sintofarm Feralpi                
24 Sergiy Avdejev (Ukr) Zoccorinese Vellutex/Team Casini                
25 Giuseppe Ricca (Ita) Cycling Team Casprini Pitti Shoes