1. Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Roslotto-ZG 5.43.13 (41,100 km/h) 2. Maximilian Sciandri (Gbr) Motorola + 0.01 3. Johan Museeuw (Bel) Mapei-GB + 0.20 4. Lance Armstrong (Usa) 5. Michele Bartoli (Ita) 6. Davide Rebellin (Ita) 7. Marco Fincato (Ita) 8. Andrea Tafi (Ita) all s.t. 9. Marco Milesi (Ita) + 1.01 10. Stefano Colage (Ita) + 1.09 11. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) + 1.35 12. Alessandro Baronti (Ita) s.t. 13. Faustini (Ita) s.t. 14. Gianetti (Sch) + 3.28 15. Fondriest (Ita) + 3.45 16. Elli (Ita) 17. Peron (Ita) 18. Frattini (Ita) 19. Riis (Den) 20. Cattai (Ita) 21. Tchmil (Rus) 22. Savoldelli (Ita) all s.t. 23. Roux (Fra) + 3.56 24. Sunderland (Aus) s.t. 25. Aldag (Ger) + 6.24 26. Halgand (Fra) 27. Dotti (Ita) 28. Sorensen (Den) 29. Echave (Spa) 30. Laukka (Fin) 31. Den Bakker (Ned) 32. Lebreton (Fra) 33. Yates (Gbr) 34. Pistore (Ita) 35. Boogerd (Ned) 36. Gualdi (Ita) all s.t. 37. Galletti (Ita) + 6.27 38. Piepoli (Ita) + 6.35 39. Brochard (Fra) + 7.24 40. Stephens (Gbr) 41. Blaudzun (Den) 42. Bontempi (Ita) 43. Michaelsen (Den) all s.t. 115 starters, 43 finishers
Italy's Andrea Ferrigato on Sunday won the Leeds international classic World Cup race, the first major success of his career.
The Roslotto rider won the sprint ahead of England's Italian-born defending champion Max Sciandri at this northern English town. However Belgium's Johan Museeuw maintained the World Cup overall lead after this seventh round.
Seven riders, including Belgium's Johan Museeuw, American Lance Armstrong, Italy's Michele Bartoli, plus Ferrigato and Sciandri got away with 20km to go.
Coming into the last kilometre, Sciandri managed to keep Ferrigato in front of him, and as they entered the finishing straight they were side by side and almost standing still as they prepared for a track sprint.
But Ferrigato suddenly peeled off to the left and Sciandri was too slow to react as the Italian jumped clear for victory.
Sciandri, frustrated at losing out in the final sprint, failed to report to the presentation podium and was later disciplined by the race jury.
They docked 10 points from his World Cup tally, dropping him from 10th to 14th overall.
It was Ferrigato's eighth win of his career as a professional.
"All the pressure was on Max today," Ferrigato said. "I had nothing to lose, so I was able to ride a relaxed race when we were out in front.
"We are good mates, and we talked all the way round, so it was fair sprint."
Sciandri, who was also fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about 1,800 dollar), said later: "The team put in a great effort to get me in that position, but when it came to the finish I just had nothing left for the sprint."
Sciandri, who holds a British passport, won an Olympic Games bronze medal for Britain and has since turned down approaches to continue his sporting role as an Italian, yesterday failed narrowly to repeat his win of last year.
Frustrated by defeat, Sciandri rode off to the changing rooms and refused to attend the prize presentation. He was later fined his day's prize of £5,300, plus an addiditional fine of £1,100 and 10 World Cup points for failing to attend the brief ceremony.
By the first of two climbs of Holme Moss after 60 miles, another Italian, Fabio Roscioli, was in front alone. By the second ascent, the crowd of 6,000 cheered eight leaders, including World Cup holder and leader, Johan Museeuw, of Belgium, and Ferrigato, but before the winning move finally developed, Sciandri joined them along with team-mate Lance Armstrong from the United States.
Seven leaders returned to Leeds for three five-mile finishing circuits with an advantage of a minute, and after a "feeler" attack by Armstrong, Sciandri launched the winning move with just over two laps to go.
Sciandri, the defending champion in the 235-km Leeds race, was caught off-guard by Ferrigato who powered clear 200 metres from the line to earn one of the most significant victories of his six-year professional career.
The pair coasted the final kilometre as each for waited for the other to make a move, but in the end the Italian's reserve of strength was the difference and he crossed the line one second clear.
Race officials fined Sciandri 2,000 Swiss francs ($1,650) for his non-appearance on the podium and the remainder was his prize money for second place. He also lost 10 of the 35 World Cup points awarded for his second placing which saw him slip from ninth to 14th in the overall positions.
It was not immediately clear why Sciandri did not attend the prize ceremony, although he had told reporters earlier the race had tired him.
``Sciandri would normally beat me but a tactical sprint like today's is my speciality,'' said Ferrigato, who won a stage victory in the Giro D'Italia in 1993.
``He was more nervous and tense than me and he knew I was fast. That was why he was desperate for me to make the move.''
The Italian's victory was rough on Sciandri, who two weeks ago had done most of the work in the Olympic road race only to end up with the bronze.
Sciandri, born in Derby but raised in Italy, was also the driving force behind the decisive move in the opening round of the World Cup, the Milan to San Remo race, but finished fourth.
``When someone is stronger what can you do?'' said Sciandri. ``It really kills me that I lost but I was so tired because I had done a lot of work and during the race I was not able to eat too
Sciandri and Ferrigato escaped in the final 20 km around the centre of this Yorkshire city, leaving five others to fight for third place 20 seconds later.
It fell to Belgian Johan Museeuw, the series leader and current Cup holder. He gained 25 points to almost double his lead over Italy's Stefano Zanini, who was absent from this the seventh of 11 rounds.
The seven-man leading group formed in the last 70 km after Sciandri's Motorola team had worked hard to reel in Museeuw, Ferrigato and Michele Bartoli following the last climb.
For some 140 km Fabio Roscioli was the focus of attention as he dropped his breakaway partners, Swiss Michel Lafis and Spain's Inigo Chaurreau, to race alone before Museeuw and the others hunted him down.
1989 (in Newcastle) Maassen (Ned) 1990 (in Brighton) Bugno (Ita) 1991 (in Brighton) Van Lancker (Bel) 1992 (in Leeds) Ghirotto (Ita) 1993 Volpi (Ita) 1994 Bortolami (Ita) 1995 Sciandri (Gbr) 1996 Ferrigato (Ita)
1. Johan Museeuw (Bel) 137 pts 2. Stefano Zanini (Ita) 88 3. Michele Bartoli (Ita) 73 4. Alexander Gontchenkov (Rus) 67 5. Fabio Baldato (Ita) 65 6. Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) 62 7. Lance Armstrong (Usa) 61 8. Gabriele Colombo (Ita) 58 9. Andrej Tchmil (Rus) 56 10. Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) 54 11. Udo Bolts (Ger) 50 11. Pascal Richard (Sch) 50 13. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) 47 14. Maximilian Sciandri (Gbr) 45 15. Andrea Tafi (Ita) 37 16. Stefano Cattai (Ita) 35 16. Mauro Bettin (Ita) 35 18. Richard Virenque (Fra) 32 18. Vjatjeslav Ekimov (Rus) 32 18. Marco Fincato (Ita) 32 18 Davide Rebellin (Ita) 32
1. Mapei-GB 59 pts 2. MG-Technogym 51 3. Motorola 50 4. Roslotto-ZG 40 5. Festina 36 6. Telekom 30 7. Carrera 19 8. Gewiss-Playbus 18 9. Team Polti 16 10. Lotto 15
Milano-San Remo: Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Ronde van Vlaanderen: Michele Bartoli (Ita) Paris - Roubaix: Johan Museeuw (Bel) Liege - Bastogne - Liege: Pascal Richard (Sch) Amstel Gold Race: Stefano Zanini (Ita) San Sebastian: Udo Bolts (Ger) Leeds International Classic: Andrea Ferrigato (Ita).
August 25: GP Zurich October 6: Paris - Tours October 19: Giro di Lombardia October 27: Japan Cup