25th Gran Premio Industria e Artigianato Di Larciano - 1.2

Italy, May 5, 2001

2000 Results    Results    Past winners

Rebellin gets one over Casagrande

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Davide Rebellin
Photo: © Sirotti

Davide Rebellin (Liquigas) has continued his consistently good season by winning the 25th edition of the Gran Premio Industria e Artigianato in Larciano. Rebellin outsprinted his breakaway companion Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), with Cantina Tollo's Danilo Di Luca leading the next group home for third, 48 seconds behind.

The tough 200 km race was considered a form predictor for the Giro, especially for the first half and we will no doubt see these three riders atop the Giro podium on several occasions. Today it was the in-form world number one, Francesco Casagrande, who launched the decisive attack on the climb of San Baronto (3.8 km at 9%). Only Davide Rebellin could hold his wheel, and the pair got a 20 second gap at the top of the climb.

This they increased on the descent into Larciano, as Stefano Garzelli (Mapei) and Raimondas Rumsas (Fassa) attempted to bridge without success. They were absorbed into a larger group containing Di Luca, Figueras, Gontchar and several others.

Francesco Casagrande is normally a good finisher on these occasions, but today he had to concede defeat to Rebellin's faster sprint. It was Rebellin's fifth season win in 2001.

"I could follow his rhythm on the climb," explained Rebellin. "At the end, I burned him off in the sprint."

"I am aiming to win a couple of stages [in the Giro], without looking at the classification, because I can't maintain that rhythm for three weeks," he added.

Results - 200 km

1 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                5.00.15 (39.666 km/h)
2 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone     0.48
4 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo
5 Sergey Gontchar (Ukr) Liquigas-Pata
6 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
7 José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) iBanesto.com
8 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone
9 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
10 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
11 Simone Borgheresi (Ita) Mercatone UnoStream TV
12 Aleksandr Sheffr (Kaz) Alessio
13 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo
14 Faat Zakirov (Rus) Amore & Vita Beretta
15 Unai Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com
16 Mauro Zanetti (Ita) Alessio
17 Pascal Hervè (Fra) Alexia Aluminio
18 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                   1.09
19 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin                    1.29
20 Uros Murn (Slo) Mobilvetta
21 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco Macchine per Caffe

Past Winners 

2000 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo 200 kms in 4.58.00 (40.26 km/h)
1999 Massimo Podenzana (Ita) Mercatone Uno 200 kms in 5.08.00 (38.161 km/h)
1998 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross-Selle Italia 200 kms in 4.40.00 (42.06 km/h)