31st Giro Ciclistico d'Italia Internazionale U26 - 2.6

Italy, June 12- 24, 2001

Stage 4 - June 15: Calvisano-Crema, 148 km

Frattini suffers but keeps race lead

In Crema, the home of some of the best Italian sprinters, everybody was expecting a bunch sprint at the end of the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia Elite. The stage finished in a sprint but between a group of 11 riders. Marco Endrizzi the 21 year-old Trevigiani Mapei, rider won the 153 km stage, beating Fabio Mazer (Zalf Euromobil Fior), Stefano Brunelli (MG Boys Aqua) and eight other riders. They all finished 51 seconds ahead of three chasing riders and a minute ahead of the main bunch.

The sprint was not easy for Endrizzi even though he was fastest of the 11 rider break: "I went early, at three hundred metres and I thought I'd won easily but then I saw that Mazzer was coming up fast. I hung on and managed to keep a half a metre advantage which made the difference and gave me the win. I want to dedicate this win to the President of the Tevigiani Remo Mosole and my directeur sportif Roberto Zoccarato," he said.

The stage saw several breaks go away. The first by 36 riders was chased down by Frattini's teammates, but then another went clear 60 km from the finish made up of 11 riders. They opened a clear advantage, which reached a maximum of 1:38 with eight kilometres to go.

At that moment Gainluca Cavalli was virtual race leader but the reaction of the Sintofarm riders brought the gap down again, reducing it to a minute, enough for Frattini to keep the pink jersey. All attacks meant that the stage was not the easy day expected, confirming the aggressive racing which is characterising this Giro d'Italia Elite.

After pulling on his second pink jersey, Frattini commented that "It was an aggressive and fast stage right from the start. I didn't think that the sprinter's teams would let things go because they wanted the stage to finish in a bunch sprint, I hoped they would keep the race together. Unfortunately that didn't happen and we had to work hard all through the stage."

"We (Sintofarm) chased the first break but the last move with Cavalli in it had us in trouble, I even thought I might lose the pink jersey. Fortunately we managed to keep the gap down so that I kept the race lead. Tomorrow will be tough and will be an battle to keep the jersey. I think I'll have to especially watch Casagrande and Bonarenko."

Tomorrow the Giro Elite heads to the Emilia region, for the Salsomaggiore-Sassuolo Montegibbio stage. Over 144 km, the stage finishes with the difficult 7 km climb from Sassuolo 120m above sea level, to Montegibbio (370 m).

Results

1 Marco Endrizzi (Ita) U.C. Trevigiani Mapei Cassamarca          3.12.13 (47.759 km/h)
2 Fabio Mazzer (Ita) G.S. Zalf Euromobil Fior
3 Stefano Brunelli (Ita) G.S. MG Boys Aqua
4 Vladimiro Tarallo (Ita) MCS Bedogni B.Team Anico Monsum.
5 Giovanni Brugaietta (Ita) G.S. Impruneta Cotto Ref.Pol Valdarno
6 Emanuele Barichello (Ita) Team Parolin Fis Uniconfort
7 Jan Chrobak (Cze) G.S. Zalf Euromobil Fior
8 Cedric Coutouly (Fra) Credit Agricole
9 Marco Bompadre (Ita) S.C. C. Calzatura Civitanova M.Granaro
10 Alexandre Bajenov (Rus) G.S. Impruneta Cotto Ref.Pol Valdarno
11 Gian Luca Cavalli (Ita) G.S. Vezza Brunero Boeris
12 Claudio Pizzoferrato (Ita) S.C. Cer.Che Pagnoncelli Fmb Perrel    0.51
13 Kevin Proost (Bel) Eddy Merckx Boys
14 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Eddy Merckx Boys
15 Denis Bertolini (Ita) G.S. San Pellegrino Bottoli Artoni          1.00
16 Simone Cadamuro (Ita) G.S. San Pellegrino Bottoli Artoni
17 Graeme Brown (Aus) Australian National Team
18 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cycling Team Casprini Pitti Shoes
19 Marco Menin (Ita) G.S. MG Boys Aqua
20 Paolo Ciciani (Ita) V.C. Aran Cucine Cantina Tollo
21 Paolo Longo/Borghini (Ita) G.S. Resine Ragnoli Garda Rifra P.
22 Samuel Rouyer (Fra) Credit Agricole

General classification after stage 4

1 Davide Frattini (Ita) Sintofarm Feralpi       13.53.15 (43.282 km/h)
2 Gianluca Cavalli (Ita) Vezza Brunero              0.33 
3 Ezio Casagrande (Ita) Site Frezza                 0.58
4 Luca Solari (Ita) S. Pellegrino Bortoli           1.18
5 Andris Reiss (Lat) Sintofarm                      1.22
6 Sergei Krushevskiy (Uzb) Uzbekistan 
7 Francesco Magni (Ita) Eternedile                  1.42
8 Damiano Giannini (Ita) Pagnoncelli  
9 Emil Arnel (Swe) Podenzana Italfine 
10 Andrea Moletta (Ita) Zalf Euromobil Fior         1.51