3rd Giro della Provincia di Lucca - 2.3Italy, October 2-5, 2001Main Page Photography Results Previous stage Stage 4 - October 5: Viareggio-Marina Pietrasanta, 163 km
Bettini wins final stage, Aerts is overall champion
Last year's overall winner of the Giro di Lucca, Paolo Bettini (Mapei) has confirmed his favouritism for the World Championships in Lisbon by winning the final stage. Bettini out sprinted Cristian Gasperoni (Cantina Tollo) and Alberto Ongarato (Mobilvetta) on his way to his fifth victory this season. Belgian Mario Aerts (Lotto) had no problems in staying at the top of the overall GC, and finished 6'16 clear of Pole Piotr Wadecki (Domo). With two climbs (Monte Pitoro and Colle di Montemagno) to be repeated three times during today's 163 kilometre circuit race, the stage was set for an aggressive battle. Denis Lunghi (Colpack) attacked after just 10 kilometres on the first ascent of Monte Pitoro. He was joined by Bartoli, Belli, Valjavec, Gasperoni, Frattini and Gobbi, but they were caught after 19 kilometres. At Pietrasanta, an attack from Righi, Varriale and Tankink was more successful, and they quickly gained 3 minutes after averaging 47.5 km/h in the first hour. The trio's maximum lead was 4 minutes before the sprinters' teams chased them down on the last climb of Monte Pitoro with 35 km to go. The final move went over the top of the climb, as Rebellin attacked, followed by Bartoli, Bettini, Francesco Casagrande, Donati, Boogerd, Luttenberger, Gasperoni, Loder, Turpin, Righi, Wadecki, Kessler, Valjavec, Ongarato and Khalilov. Although Wadecki was in this group and was second on GC, there was no chance of closing the 7 minute gap to Aerts, who had missed the break. They managed to increase their lead to 58 seconds with 5 kilometres to go, and Bettini put in a strong sprint to defeat Gasperoni and Ongarato. Aerts lost a minute to Wadecki, but easily won the 3rd Giro di Lucca overall.
"Today's victory is the confirmation of my excellent condition and an extra shot of confidence for Lisbon," said stage winner Bettini. "As a precaution I will not ride Paris-Tours this Sunday as during yesterday's stage run in bad weather, I caught a slight chill in my upper respiratory system, with a slight inflammation of the tonsils I suffered a few days ago. Nothing to worry about, but having heard the opinion of the team doctors, I preferred to take their advice and undergo an antibiotic therapy so not to compromise my performance at the World Championship, which remains my principal goal for the end of the season." PhotographyPhoto's of the fourth stage by Fotoreporter Sirotti
Results1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.23.53 (45.320 km/h) 2 Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Acqua e Sapone 3 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Mobilvetta Design-Formaggi Trentini 4 Mikhayl Khalilov (Ukr) Selle Italia-Pacific 5 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites 6 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 7 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 8 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 9 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 10 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata Final general classification 1 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 15.53.57 2 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites 6.16 3 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 6.18 4 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 6.21 5 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance |
