55th Tour de Romandie - 2.HC
Switzerland, May 8-13, 2001
Main page Results
Prologue - May 8: Pfaffnau
ITT, 6.9 km
Savoldelli opens his
account with narrow win
By Gabriella Ekström, cyclingnews.com correspondent
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Paolo
Savoldelli
Photo: © AFP
Defending champion Paolo Savoldelli (Saeco) started right where left
off inthe 2000 Tour de Romandie, by winning the opening 6.9 km prologue
time trial in Pffafnau. The Saeco rider averaged nearly 46 km/h to beat
Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo) by less than a second and Brad McGee (FdJ)
by 1.15 seconds.
Starting fourth of the day, the excellent Australian time triallist
Brad McGee stood out and took a lead that would last almost throughout
the whole prologue. 6.9 kilometers is long for a prologue and short
for a time trial, so there was a possibility that someone not so well
known for his time trial abilities would win the stage. The prologue
started late in the afternoon in Sankt Urban. The weather was still
fine, if a bit chilly. The narrow roads between the small cities of
Sankt Urban and Pfaffnau were filled with riders warming up or cooling
down. As an Hors Categorie race and one of the final tests before the
Giro d'Italia, the Tour de Romandie can always present a lot of good
riders, although those of them preparing for the Giro are looking more
for form than victories.
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Paolo
Savoldelli
Photo: © AFP
When all riders had left the start, there still had not been a single
threat to McGee's lead. Interesting riders like Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo),
Andreas Klöden (Telekom) and last year's prologue and G.C winner Paolo
Savoldelli (Saeco) were still on the course though. Dario Frigo had
a decent time when he entered the final stretch of road before the finish,
but from the way he rode, it looked as if he did not know his time was
good.
With the small margin of 0.3 seconds he took the lead from McGee,
who had finished his race more than two hours ago. Andreas Klöden was
a disappointment, but Paolo Savoldelli who was the last rider to finish
looked better, but said in interviews afterwards that he really didn't
feel that way until his D.S started to yell at him. Thanks to his brilliant
cornering technique he managed to beat Frigo's time by another eight
tenths of a second.
Tomorrow's stage will go from Pfaffnau to Tramelan, and cover 165
kilometers.
Results
1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 9.00.63 (45.946 km/h)
2 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.00.83
3 Bradley McGee (Aus) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.01.15
4 Felix Garcia Casas (Spa) Festina 0.05.74
5 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) Mercury-Viatel 0.09.18
6 David Plaza Romero (Spa) Festina 0.11.30
7 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.11.56
8 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.12.28
9 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.15.35
10 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.15.96
11 Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 0.18.29
12 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 0.19.47
13 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 0.19.75
14 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.19.86
15 Martin Cotar (Cro) Post Swiss Team 0.21.31
16 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.22.37
17 William Chann McRae (USA) Mercury-Viatel 0.22.70
18 Sascha Henrix (Ger) Team Coast 0.22.74
19 Alexis Rodriguez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.23.13
20 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 0.24.12
21 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.24.44
22 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 0.25.12
23 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mercury-Viatel 0.25.13
24 Adriano Baffi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.25.88
25 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre-Daikin 0.26.11
26 Antonio Rizzi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.26.52
27 Sven Montgomery (Swi) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.27.30
28 Daniel Schnider (Swi) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.27.68
29 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 0.28.13
30 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 0.28.19
31 Andrea Peron (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.28.71
32 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.29.03
33 Glenn D'hollander (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.29.27
34 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.29.90
35 Massimo Donati (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.30.01
36 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.30.85
37 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 0.31.10
38 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.31.90
39 Roland Meier (Swi) Team Coast 0.32.17
40 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Mercury-Viatel 0.32.40
41 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.32.80
42 Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.32.81
43 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Post Swiss Team 0.33.01
44 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Mercury-Viatel 0.33.13
45 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.33.29
46 José Luis Rebollo Aguado (Spa) Festina 0.33.41
47 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.33.43
48 Reto Bergmann (Swi) Post Swiss Team 0.33.98
49 Mariano Piccoli (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 0.34.02
50 Stefan Rütimann (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.34.44
51 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.34.66
52 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.35.53
53 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 0.36.02
54 Jean Nuttli (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.36.03
55 Alberto Elli (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.36.23
56 Gilles Maignan (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.36.76
57 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.36.77
58 Francisco Leon Mane (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.37.40
59 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.37.59
60 Luis Perez Rodriguez (Spa) Festina 0.37.71
61 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.38.65
62 Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.39.15
63 Fernando Escartin Coti (Spa) Team Coast 0.39.23
64 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.40.90
65 Armin Meier (Swi) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 0.40.98
66 David Canada Garcia (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 0.41.27
67 Christopher Wherry (USA) Mercury-Viatel 0.41.79
68 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.41.90
69 Daniel Atienza Urendeze (Spa) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphon 0.41.98
70 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Festina 0.42.04
71 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.42.08
72 Joaquim Lopez Torrella (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.42.11
73 Christopher Horner (USA) Mercury-Viatel 0.42.11
74 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.42.48
75 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.42.67
76 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.42.83
77 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 0.43.63
78 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.44.63
79 Steve Vermaut (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.44.67
80 Marco Fincato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.44.70
81 Christian Sidler (Swi) Post Swiss Team 0.45.44
82 Claude Lamour (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.45.48
83 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.46.04
84 Kevin Livingston (USA) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.46.71
85 Ruggero Borghi (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.47.26
86 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.47.70
87 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 0.47.84
88 Biagio Conte (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 0.47.85
89 Juan José De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.48.67
90 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.49.96
91 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.50.03
92 Juan Manuel Cuenca (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.50.90
93 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.51.84
94 Pierre Ackermann (Swi) Post Swiss Team 0.51.88
95 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.52.49
96 Marco Della Vedova (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 0.53.22
97 Grzegorz Gwiazdowski (Pol) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.53.36
98 Thomas Bodo (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 0.53.94
99 Roland Müller (Swi) Post Swiss Team 0.54.61
100 Piero Zucconi (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.55.65
101 Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom 0.56.60
102 Philippe Bordenave (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.56.67
103 Stéphane Krafft (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.57.51
104 Mario Scirea (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 0.57.87
105 Cédric Fragniere (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.58.22
106 Pierre Bourquenoud (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.58.26
108 Gian Paolo Cheula (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.59.53
107 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Post Swiss Team 0.59.53
109 Christian Charriere (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 1.00.19
110 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Fassa Bortolo 1.00.35
111 Yvon Ledanois (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 1.00.44
112 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Post Swiss Team 1.00.88
113 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast 1.02.28
114 Lukas Zumsteg (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 1.03.09
115 David Tani (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.05.77
116 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 1.06.76
117 Gustavo Miguel Otero Gomez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1.07.01
118 Kurt Van Lancker (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1.07.84
119 Michel Klinger (Swi) Festina 1.11.66
120 Jason Phillips (Aus) Team Coast 1.11.91
121 Laurent Chotard (Fra) Mercury-Viatel 1.18.66
122 Kurt Brand Hans (Swi) Team Coast 1.25.39
123 Sandro Giacomelli (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 1.38.55
124 Juan Carlos Vicario Barbera (Spa) Festina 2.01.09
125 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 4.01.36
Points
1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè 5 pts
2 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4
3 Bradley McGee (Aus) La Francaise Des Jeux 3
4 Felix Garcia Casas (Spa) Festina 2
5 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) Mercury-Viatel 1
Teams
1 Saeco Macchine Per Caffe' 27.45
2 Fassa Bortolo
3 Festina 0.06
4 La Francaise Des Jeux 0.11
5 Mercury-Viatel 0.12
6 Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone 0.14
7 Lampre-Daikin 0.17
8 Lotto-Adecco 0.21
9 Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.36
10 Ag2r-Prevoyance 0.37
11 Team Coast 0.38
12 Post Swiss Team 0.43
13 Mapei-Quick Step 0.49
14 Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 0.53
15 Team Deutsche Telekom 1.00
16 Phonak Hearing Systems 1.07
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