17th Clasica de Almeria - 1.3

Spain, March 3, 2002

2001 results    Results    Past winners

First of the season for Strazzer

Italian sprinter Massimo Strazzer has won the 17th Clasica Almeria, beating the two Zberg brothers Marcus and Beat in a mass sprint. Strazzer finished the race in 3:54:36 at an average speed of 44.501 km/h.

The race featured three category 2 climbs, all coming between 90 and 120 kilometres. The riders had to battle cold conditions with some rain, which was worse on the climbs. A fast pace was imposed from the outset, which prevented any escapes from staying away for long.

Just before the fog covered third climb of the day, Paso del Collado Garcia, Rafael Casero (Jazztel) and David Navas (iBanesto.com) made a move. They reached the top of the climb with a 25 second advantage over a group containing Cardoso, Mancebo, Jeker and Brutt. The peloton was at 1'05, led by the Milaneza team.

Casero and Navas increased their advantage over the next 50 kilometres, as Jeker's group was reabsorbed by the peloton. Casero attacked to try and take a solo victory but was caught by the peloton with 12 kilometres to go.

The Milaneza and Rabobank squads continued to lead the bunch, trying to set up the sprint for Angel Edo and Markus (or Beat) Zberg. In the end it was Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) who profited, taking the victory from Markus and Beat Zberg, followed by Edo.

Results - 174 km

1 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak Hearing System    3.54.36 (44.501 km/h)
2 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank
3 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank
4 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-MSS
5 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
6 Torsten Nitsche (Ger) Saeco-Longoni
7 Pablo Lastras (Spa) iBanesto.com
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
9 Edouard Gritsoun (Rus) Itera
10 Gustavo M. Toledo (Arg) Jazztel-Costa Almeria
11 Frederic Amorison (Bel) Lotto
12 Harald Morscher (Aut) Team Nurnberger
13 Pablo Fernandez (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada
14 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
15 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone-Uno
16 Jimmi Madsen (Den) C.S.C.-Tiscali
17 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) Team Nurnberger
18 Cesar Garcia (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada
19 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
20 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) Team Nurnberger
21 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE-Eroski
22 Iker Camaņo (Spa) Phonak Hearing System
23 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing System
24 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
25 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada
26 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing System
27 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Itera
28 Jose Manuel Maestre (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada
29 Vladimir Autko (Blr) Itera
30 Tom Stremersch (Bel) Lotto
31 Jorge Capitan (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada
32 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
33 Jose A. Pecharroman (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria
34 Rafael Casero (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria
35 Francisco Javier Vila (Spa) iBanesto.com
36 Konstantin Sivtsov (Blr) Itera
37 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
38 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto
39 Pablo Soler (Spa) Mercatone-Uno
40 Abraham Olano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski
41 Holger Sievers (Ger) Team Nurnberger
42 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com
43 David Muņoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
44 Carlos Sastre (Spa) C.S.C.-Tiscali
45 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) iBanesto.com
46 Christian Werner (Ger) Team Nurnberger
47 Ivan Ramiro Parra (Col) ONCE-Eroski
48 Jan Hruska (Cze) ONCE-Eroski
49 Carlos Garcia (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
50 Rene Andrle (Cze) ONCE-Eroski
51 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com
52 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank
53 Ricardo Valdez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria
54 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Milaneza-MSS
55 Tyler Hamilton (USA) C.S.C.-Tiscali
56 Juan J De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
57 Rui Miguel Sousa (Por) Milaneza-MSS
58 David Navas (Spa) iBanesto.com
59 Gorka Beloki (Spa) ONCE-Eroski
60 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-MSS
61 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
62 Rui Lavarinhas (Por) Milaneza-MSS
63 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank
64 Koldo Gil (Spa) iBanesto.com
65 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank
66 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Itera
67 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing System       2.01
 
Starters. 121
Classified. 67
Abandons. 54
 
Mountains
 
1 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-MSS                    22
2 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com                20
3 Rafael Casero (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria           10
4 Francisco Javier Vila (Spa) iBanesto.com             8
5 David Navas (Spa) iBanesto.com                       7
6 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com               6
7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) C.S.C.-Tiscali                   3
8 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada               2
9 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Itera                         2
10 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Milaneza-MSS                     2
11 Ivan Ramiro Parra (Col) ONCE-Eroski                 1
12 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Itera                             1
 
Metas volantes
 
1 Gustavo M. Toledo (Arg) Jazztel-Costa Almeria        3
2 Gorka Beloki (Spa) ONCE-Eroski                       3
 
Special sprints
 
1 Rafael Casero (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria            3
2 Jorge Capitan (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada                3
3 David Navas (Spa) iBanesto.com                       2
4 Jose Manuel Maestre (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada          2
5 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Milaneza-MSS                      1
 
Teams
 
1 Phonak Hearing Systems                        11.43.48
2 Team Nürnberger Versicherung
3 Euskaltel-Euskadi
4 Relax-Fuenlabrada
5 Rabobank
6 Itera
7 Kelme
8 Jazztel-Costa De Almeria
9 Lotto-Adecco
10 iBanesto.com
11 ONCE-Eroski
12 Milaneza-MSS
13 Tiscali Team CSC

Past winners

2001 Tayeb Braikia (Den) Lotto-Adecco
2000 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Kelme Costa Blanca 176 kms in 4.36.51
1999 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 188 kms in 5.34.51
1998 Mario Traversoni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 188 kms in 4.48.07
1997 Massimo Strazzer (Ita
1996 Wilfried Nelissen (Bel)
1995 Jean-Pierre Heynderickx (Bel)
1994 Johan Capiot (Bel)
1993 Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)