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Mario Cipollini has taken his first win for the Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo team, after beating Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) in a bunch sprint at the end of a wet stage of the Tour Méditerranéen. In the overall classification, Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) took over the leader's jersey from his teammate Michele Bartoli.
The major move in the 168 km stage from Bouc-Bel-Air to Le Cannet came after just 15 kilometres, when Thierry Loder (Ag2r) escaped and rode solo for some time, reaching a maximum lead of 3'15. He was caught after he cramped at 100 km, and Bram De Groot (Rabobank), Sandy Casar (Française des jeux) and Aïtor Osa (iBanesto.com) counter-attacked.
Casar was the only one to make some progress on his own, however Cipollini's zebra striped teammates upped the tempo and caught the fugitive with 7 kilometres to go. Acqua e Sapone kept up the pressure to lead Cipollini out for the win, whereas other teams chose not to risk it in the poor conditions.
The 34 year old Cipollini recorded his 13th stage win in the Tour Méditerranéen, added to a career total of over 140 races. "Today was an important day for a lot of reasons," said Cipo after his win in Le Cannet. "It was the racing debut for our new team, in a race that became really difficult and we got the win. Fassa Bortolo went to the front with 20 km to go, and then my teammates put me in the position to win the sprint. Even if there is still work to do on how our team works together, today showed that these guys have confidence in me and are ready to make the efforts to bring me to the finish. I've found a really strong 'train'; something that I haven't had for two years."
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DS Antonio Salutini said that "Mario told me that he was sure that Bartoli would try to get away on the run-in (15km to go), but he didn't make his move. So with 10km to go, we put Colombo, Trenti, Lombardi and Gasperoni on the front to ride tempo and Mario finished the job in his usual way with a big win."
Despite not racing since June 2001, Cipollini showed that he has lost none of his speed and skill when it comes to mass sprints. "For now, I'm happy with this win, and I'll be back tomorrow looking for a another one." said Cipo.
Tomorrow's third stage is from Villeneuve-Loubet to Hyères, over 142 km, with the main difficulties being the col de l'Estérel (km 38) and the col du Gratteloup (km 107).
1 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 4.24.35 (38.049 km/h) 2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 3 Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 4 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 5 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Bigmat.Auber 93 6 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 7 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 8 Guido Trenti (USA) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 9 Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) iBanesto.com 10 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 11 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 12 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance 13 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 14 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Bonjour 15 Richard Virenque (Fra) Domo-Farm Frites 16 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bonjour 17 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 18 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 19 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 20 Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 21 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Mapei-Quick Step 22 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour 23 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 24 Matthew Wilson (Aus) La Francaise Des Jeux 25 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Domo-Farm Frites 26 Jean Cyril Robin (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 27 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 28 Bingen Fernandez Bustinzea (Spa) Cofidis 29 Benoit Salmon (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 30 Roger Beuchat (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 31 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) Team CSC Tiscali 32 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali 33 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Bonjour 34 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 35 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 36 Alexandre Kolobnev (Rus) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 37 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Credit Agricole 38 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean Delatour 39 Torsten Nitcshe (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 40 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 41 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 42 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Bonjour 43 Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 44 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 45 Mïrko Celestino (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 46 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 47 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 48 Addy Engels (Ned) Rabobank 49 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 50 Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 51 Félix Garcia Casas (Spa) Bigmat.Auber 93 52 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 53 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 54 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 55 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 56 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 57 Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 58 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 59 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo 60 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Team CSC Tiscali 61 Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 62 Grischa Niermann (Ned) Rabobank 63 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 64 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole 65 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis 66 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Gerolsteiner 67 Baden Cooke (Aus) La Francaise Des Jeux 68 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) Lotto-Adecco 1.05 69 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 1.42 70 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 1.55 71 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2.04 72 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 2.22 73 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 74 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 75 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 76 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Gerolsteiner 77 Diego Ferrari (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 2.25 78 Tomas Konecny (Cze) Domo-Farm Frites 79 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 80 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bonjour 81 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 82 Christophe Capelle (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 83 Martin Derganc (Slo) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 84 Miguel Meza (Mex) Team Colpack-Astro 85 Milan Kadlec (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 86 José Ivan Guttierez (Spa) iBanesto.com 87 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Ag2R Prevoyance 88 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre-Daikin 89 Ruben Plaza (Spa) iBanesto.com 90 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 91 Reto Bergman (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 92 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Team CSC Tiscali 93 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 94 Rafael Mateos (Spa) Team Colpack-Astro 95 Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Credit Agricole 96 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Jean Delatour 97 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) iBanesto.com 98 Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 2.36 99 Denis Lunghi (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro 100 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 3.22 101 Yuriy Krivtsov (Rus) Jean Delatour 102 Vladimir Smirnov (Ltu) Team Colpack-Astro 103 Anthony Langella (Fra) Credit Agricole 104 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 105 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 106 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 107 Tom Steels (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 5.54 108 Koldo Gil Perez (Spa) iBanesto.com 109 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 110 Loic Lamouller (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 111 Jimmi Madsen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 7.27 112 Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Cofidis 7.51 113 Franck Renier (Fra) Bonjour 114 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 115 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis 116 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Lampre-Daikin 117 Biagio Conte (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 118 Alessio Galetti (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 119 David Latasa Lasea (Spa) iBanesto.com 120 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) Team CSC Tiscali 121 Damien Nazon (Fra) Bonjour 122 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) La Francaise Des Jeux 123 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 124 Rafael Nuritdinov (Uzb) Team Colpack-Astro 125 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 126 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 9.04 127 Andreï Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 128 Stevel Zampieri (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 129 Cristian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 9.48 130 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 10.57 131 Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 132 Fabian De Waele (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 133 Marino Piccoli (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 134 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites 135 Nicolaj Bo Larsen (Den) Gerolsteiner 136 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 137 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2R Prevoyance 138 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 139 Lukas Zumsteg (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 140 Jacky Durand (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 141 Giosue Bonomi (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro 142 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 143 Matteo Gigli (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro 144 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 145 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 146 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 147 Patrick Jonker (Aus) Bigmat.Auber 93 148 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Jean Delatour 149 Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita) Cofidis 150 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 151 Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Gerolsteiner 152 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 153 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 154 Pedro Horrillo-Munoz (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 155 Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com 156 Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 157 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 158 Joona Laukka (Fin) Jean Delatour 159 Jérôme Neuville (Fra) Cofidis 160 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 161 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 162 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 163 Christophe Mengin (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 164 Michele Colleoni (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro 165 Stephane Barthe (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 166 Jean Nuttli (Swi) Saint-Quentin Oktos 167 Pierre Bourquenoud (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 168 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 169 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 170 Christian Charriere (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 13.38 Mountains Mimet 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4 pts Col De St Zacharie 1 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 4 pts 2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2 3 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1 General classification after stage 2 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 5.02.45 2 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 3 Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 5 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 7 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo 8 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 0.01 9 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 0.07 10 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole Mountains classification 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 11 pts 2 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 4 3 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2 4 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2 5 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1
