News for March 19, 2001

Paris-Nice wrap up

Dario Frigo
Photo: © AFP

The 68th edition of the Race to the Sun has finished in Nice sunshine, with the overall victory going to Italian Dario Frigo, who won yesterday's critical Col d'Eze time trial. Frigo becomes only the second Italian to win the race, the first being in 1946 when Fermo Camellini won.

It was a good result for Fassa Bortolo as well, with Lithuanian Raimondas Rumsas coming in second. This combined with Petito and Ivanov's strong performances in Tirreno-Adriatico showed that the team should be battling it out with Mapei and Telekom for UCI team ranking honours this year.

Frigo said after the stage that he'd spent a "bad night last night. I had trouble sleeping. This stage was not a criterium, the parcours was rather hard but the attacks weren't too bad."

"My victory is important, it pleases me enormously but I don't believe it will change my role in the team. With Ferretti, everyone gets their chance, whether they have palmares or not. This year, I am aiming for the Giro, where Casagrande will need me."

Fabrizio Guidi
Photo: © JF Quenet

Today's stage winner was another Italian, Fabrizio Guidi riding for the Mercury-Viatel team outsprinted Danilo Hondo and Stuart O'Grady for the flowers.

"I started this stage to win it," said Guidi at the press conference. "Van Petegem said that he would work for me today, and that he was ready to sacrifice his points jersey. A fast finish suited me best."

The next test for Guidi will be Milan-San Remo, which he will be racing for the 4th time. "I've never had good condition at that time. I will be protected even if Van Petegem is our best chance."

The race was an important test for Mercury-Viatel, who are looking for one of the precious Tour de France wild card spots. Lotto, Saeco, CSC, Alessio, Mercatone Uno, Coast, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Big Mat and La Francaise des Jeux are looking to be the main competitors at the moment for those.

Laurent Fignon comments

Paris-Nice director Laurent Fignon spoke to AFP about his race, and how it could be improved in future. It is the second time that Fignon has been in charge, and it is a steep learning curve. "One is never satisfied," he said about the race. "It is a Paris-Nice that is along the lines of last year, even though the course can be improved. This year, we didn't really have the choice because of the elections."

"I would like it if the course changed every year, but the Col d'Eze remained as a constant. This riders must realise that this time trial does not cause bug variations."

Fignon answered a question about the lengths of some of the stages. "In the 240 kilometre stage, there was no other choice but Saint-Raphaël for the finishing town. There were too many kilometers and the difficulties were too far apart."

"I asked riders such as Tchmil or Bartoli, They were very happy to have this distance as preparation for Milan-San Remo."

"On the media side, we touched new countries, we sold more images and Eurovision was more interested in Paris-Nice," he added. "With our partners, we do not restrict them to French sponsors."

Commesso faces up to two years

Salvatore Commesso was suspended last week by Saeco after being questioned by Lecco police who found banned substances in his car last May. Commesso will be questioned by the special anti-doping commission of Italian sports body CONI, and faces a maximum penalty of two years.

Commesso was the Italian champion in 1999, and won a Tour de France stage in July, 2000.

Spruch, Ferrigato and Dekker out

Pole Zbigniew Spruch (Lampre), Italian Andrea Ferrigato (Alessio) and Dutchman Erik Dekker have all withdrawn from Tirreno-Adriatico today. Spruch fell during the stage 5 time trial, and sustained numerous cuts and bruises. He is recovering in the nearby hospital of Teramo, without any complications and should be able to start in next weekend's Milan-San Remo as Lampre's top man.

Andrea Ferrigato had to abandon due to a throat infection.

Erik Dekker abandoned after the time trial with pain in his knee, not wanting to take too many risks before Milan-San Remo. Dekker placed 16th in the TT despite falling, and could forget about gaining a high GC place. The knee injury has nothing to do with his fall on Sunday however.

Merckx in doubt for Milan-San Remo

Domo-Farm Frites will decide today whether Axel Merckx will ride Saturday's Milan-San Remo. Merckx has a knee injury after falling in the first stage of Paris-Nice last Monday. If Merckx' knee is not sufficiently healed, Piotr Wadecki will take his place. The rest of the Domo squad for Milan-San Remo is: Enrico Cassani, Marco Milesi, Johan Museeuw, Wilfried Peeters, Fred Rodriguez, Romans Vainsteins, Max Van Heeswijk.

Pantani prepares

After failing to finish his first couple of stage races of the year, Marco Pantani is preparing seriously for Milan-San Remo. Pantani has invited his Mercatone-Uno team-mates Ermanno Brignoli, Massimo Podenzana and Marcello Siboni to his HQ on the Adriatic coast and the four are targeting their training specifically for Milan-San Remo, with training rides of more than six hours to build endurance for the 287km Classic.

While Milan-San Remo isn't hilly, and therefore in theory not particularly suited to a climber like Pantani, the race is huge in Italy, and a win by Pantani would put him firmly in the pantheon of Italian greats alongside previous winners such as Francesco Moser, Guiseppe Saronni and Pantani's current team boss Felice Gimondi.

Milan-San Remo wild cards

Three wild card entries for Milan San Remo have been allocated to the Alessio team of Endrio Leoni and Andrea Ferrigato; Cantina Tollo (Gabriele Colombo, Danilo Di Luca); and Mobilvetta (Rodolfo Massi, Massimo Strazzer). It's possible a further Italian Division II team will also get a wildcard for a six-rider team, bringing the field to 200 riders (22 Division I teams with eight riders, and four teams of six.).

Circuito de Getxo renamed

From its next edition, scheduled for July 31, the Circuito de Getxo will be renamed the Ricardo Ochoa Memorial, in honour of the Spanish rider killed by a car while training last month.

The event's organisers, the Sociedad Ciclista Punta Galea, decided to institute a permanent memorial to Ochoa after consulting his family. Race number '1', carried by Javier Ochoa in the last edition of the race, will be retired.

Saronni confirms

Giuseppe 'Beppe' Saronni has confirmed his nomination as national selector for the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) is almost a done deal. Speaking at Tirreno-Adriatico, Saronni said "At the moment I do not see any serious obstacles to my nomination to the committee. They are optimistic and I hope my negotiations with the federation will have a good outcome. We are in the final stretch."

Saronni's nomination will have to be ratified by the FCI's federal council on March 31.

Baldinger injury complications

Dirk Baldinger (Nürnberger) is recovering slowly from the elbow injury he sustained in the tour of Murcia. Baldinger has a hairline fracture in the head of the radius bone in his right elbow, an injury complicated by existing damage from a fall last spring that put him out of action for most of the season.

Baldinger was diagnosed after a CAT scan of the elbow revealed the break. "This is a severe setback for me," he said. "I had to be examined again after I was unable to train because of the pain." Baldinger is expected to be out of competition for at least four weeks.