Ferrigato, winner of the Leeds Classic last Sunday with a one second win over Britain's Max Sciandri, posted a similarly narrow margin of victory again.
The 26-year-old Italian surged past compatriot Michele Bartoli and last year's winner and defending World Cup champion Johan Museeuw of Belgium in the final few metres of the 237km race. All three clocked the same time of five hours 51 minutes, 52 seconds.
Former world champion Lance Armstrong of the United States was in front as the leading pack of seven riders turned into the Oerlikon velodrome for the final one lap sprint but quickly faded and settled for fourth.
The back-to-back wins vault Ferrigato from sixth to second in the overall World Cup rankings with 112 points but Museeuw continues to hold a commanding lead with 162 points after eight of the 11 rounds.
1. Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Roslotto-ZG 5.51.52 (39.543 km/h) 2. Michele Bartoli (Ita) MG 3. Johan Museeuw (Bel) Mapei-GB 4. Lance Armstrong (Usa) Motorola 5. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Saeco 6. Alessandro Baronti (Ita) Panaria 7. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Mapei-GB all s.t. 8. Fabio Baldato (Ita) MG + 0.11 9. Maurizio Fondriest (Ita) Roslotto-ZG 10. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 11. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom 12. Rolf Sorensen (Den) Rabobank 13. Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-GB 14. Dimitri Konysjev (Rus) Aki 15. Oscar Camenzind (Sch) Panaria 16. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 17. Scott Sunderland (Aus) Lotto 18. Andrej Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto 19. Pascal Chanteur (Fra) Petit Casino 20. Nicola Miceli (Ita) Glacial 21. Valentino Fois (Ita, PANARIA) 22. Stefano Cattai (Ita, ROSLOTTO) 23. Laurent Dufaux (Sui, FESTINA) 24. Fabio Roscioli (Ita, REFIN) 25. Armin Meier (Sui, PMU ROMAND) 26. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned, TVM) 27. Mirko Celestino (Ita, POLTI) 28. Massmiliano Lelli (Ita, Lelli) 29. Fabian Jeker (Sui, FESTINA) 30. Fabrice Gougot (Fra, PETIT-CASINO) 31. Roux 32. Sciandri 33. Bolts 34. Elli 35. Virenque 36. R. Sierra 37. Gianetti 38. D. Rebellin 39. Stephens 40. Escartin 41. M. Indurain 42. Heppner 43. Della Santa 44. Zulle 45. Podenzana 46. Donati all s.t. 47. Breukink +1.16 48. Caruso 49. Peron 50. Faresin 51. Fincato 52. Massi all s.t. 53. Finco +3.00 54. Ugrumov +3.53 55. Ballerini 56. Rominger 57. Jaermann 58. Henn 59. Calzavara 60. Vanzella 62. Pellicioli 62. Bonca 63. Merckx 64. Galleti 65. Missaglia 66. Diaz Zabala 67. Madouas 68. Skibby 69. Livingston 70. Velo all s.t. 71. Bontempi +6.05 72. Puttini 73. Simeoni 74. Giraldi 75. Heulot 76. Lafis 77. C. Frattini 78. Chaurreau 79. Blanco all s.t. 80. Zanette +9.46 81. Davidenko 82. Milesi 83. Zaina 84. Van der Steen 85. Tue 86. Vicario 87. Julich 88. Hamburger 89. Gualdi 90. Profeti 91. Djavanian 92. Cabello 93. Huser 94. Bourquenoud 95. F. Munoz 96. Colage 97. Verbeken 98. Mori 99. Heras 100. Dolci 101. R. Gonzalez 102. Dekker 103. Serrano 104. Casero 105. I. Garcia 106. Peeters all s.t. 107. Locatelli +10.24 108. Herve 109. Bugno 110. Daddi 111. Mazzoleni 112. Abe 113. Brignoli 114. Cerezo 115. Pretot 116. Della Bianca 117. Agnolutto 118. F. Frattini 119. Chassot 120. Politano 121. Hundertmark 122. Hotz 123. Pavanello 124. Aldag 125. Meinert 126. Santamaria 127. Johnsen 128. Anguita 129. Santaromita 130. Coppolillo 131. Jonker all s.t. (194 starters, 131 finishers)Film of the Race (translated from L'Equipe):
The race began calmly under incessant rain that lasted for the first third of the race. The peloton stayed together, observing a truce that lasted more than 90km.
A little before Aarau (km94) a first attack went away -- Henn and Lafis (Telekom), Davidenko (Roslotto) and Virenque (Festina). The four built a lead of 200m before being brought back. A few kilometres further on, Dekker (Rabobank) and then Hamburger (TVM) made vain attacks.
With 60km to the finish the peloton was all together being controlled by Mapei -- Rominger, Tafi, Peeters and Ballerini imposing their rhythm on the race. Museeuw was always in their wheel in 4th or 5th position. On the climb of the Siglistorf (km193) Peron (Motorola), Elli (MG) with Tafi in tow went away without success.
With Mapei continuing a demonstration of their strength, Bartoli (MG) attacked 2km from the summit of the Regensberg (km209). Museeuw did the job of chasing himself and the two riders' lead alternately grew and shrank but only reached a maximum of 8 secs, but was ultimately brought back. Baldato persevered, trying another attack on the Huttiker 8km later. Again it was Museeuw who worked to close the gap.
In the descent (which one?) Celestino (Polti), Camenzind (Panaria) and Lelli (Saeco) started an attack, with Sciandri (Motorola), Vandenbroucke (Mapei) and Virenque (Festina) following them. They were brought back a few hundred metres on and it was Brochard (Festina), accompanied by Sciandri and Donati (Saeco) and then Dufaux (Festina) who made the next attempt (km224). Again without success. With 5km to the finish seven men broke clear -- Vandenbroucke and Museeuw, Armstrong (Motorola), Bartoli (MG), Fr. Casagrande (Saeco), Baronti (Panaria) and Ferrigato (Roslotto) -- to negotiate the final sprint on the Oerlikon track.
"The day was difficult for me," said Ferrigato. "First of all, I don't like races that start slowly. I prefer a sustained rhythm. On top of that, it was cold at the beginning and I didn't feel good in the stomach. With 40km to go I was in bad shape -- I even had cramp. But I always had in me the conviction to go to the limit of my strength, to fight. At the last feed [36km to go] I convinced myself that I'd go on to the end. Sure, I had the good luck to be in the decisive move, with a group of prestigious escapers, where I could stay at the back and profit from the work of others. But I always thought I could succeed."
Ferrigato plainly benefited from the rivalry between Baldato and Museeuw. "I don't understand why they didn't work together [in their attack] on the Regensberg," he said. "Nobody could have caught them." [When Museeuw went up to Baldato he apparently refused to do any work]. 194 starters, 131 finishers
World Cup standings after 8 of 11 events:
1. Johan Museeuw (Bel) Mapei-GB 162 pts 2. Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Roslotto-ZG 112 3. Michele Bartoli (Ita) MG 108 4. Stefano Zanini (Ita) Gewiss 88 5. Lance Armstrong (Usa) Motorola 81 6. Fabio Baldato (Ita) MG 77 7. Alexander Gontchenkov (Rus) 67 8. Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Gewiss 58 9. Andrej Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto 56 10. Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) MG 54 11. Bolts (Ger) 50 11. Richard (Sch) 50 13. Bortolami (Ita) 47 14. Sciandri (GB) 45 15. Tafi (Ita) 37 16. Cattai (Ita) 35 16. Bettin (Ita) 35 18. Virenque (Fra) 32 18. Ekimov (Rus) 32 18. Fincato (Ita) 32 18. D. Rebellin (Ita) 32Teams:
1. Mapei-GB (Ita) 71 pts 2. MG-Technogym (Ita) 58 3. Motorola (Usa) 52 4. Roslotto-ZG (Rus) 49Podium since 1981:
(Championship of Zurich -1995 / GP Suisse 1996) - 1981: 1. Breu (Sch) 2. Rinklin (Ger) 3. Willems (Bel) - 1982: 1. Van der Poel (Ned) 2. Seiz (Sch) 3. Prim (Swe) Winner McKenzie (Nzl) disqualified for failing the drugs test. - 1983: 1. Van de Velde (Ned) 2. Glaus (Sch) 3. Pirard (Ned) - 1984: 1. Anderson (Aus) 2. Seiz (Sch) 3. Gavazzi (Ita) - 1985: 1. L. Peeters (Bel) 2. Beccia (Ita) 3. Bauer (Can) - 1986: 1. Da Silva (Por) 2. Bauer (Can) 3. Van der Poel (Ned) - 1987: 1. Golz (Ger) 2. Alcala (Mex) 3. Passera (Ita) - 1988: 1. Rooks (Ned) 2. Sorensen (Den) 3. Rominger (Sch) - 1989: 1. Bauer (Can) 2. Da Silva (Por) 3. Golz (Ger) - 1990: 1. Mottet (Fra) 2. LeMond (USA) 3. Chiappucci (Ita) - 1991: 1. Museeuw (Bel) 2. L. Jalabert (Fra) 3. Sciandri (Gbr) - 1992: 1. Ekimov (Rus) 2. Armstrong (USA) 3. Nevens (Bel). - 1993: 1. Fondriest (Ita) 2. Mottet (Fra) 3. Cenghialta (Ita) - 1994: 1. Bortolami (Ita) 2. Museeuw (Bel) 3. Fondriest (Ita) - 1995: 1. Museeuw (Bel) 2. Bugno (Ita) 3. Furlan (Ita) - 1996: 1. Ferrigato (Ita) 2. Bartoli (Ita) 3. Museeuw (Bel)
1. Museeuw 162 points 2. Ferrigato 112 3. Bartoli 108 4. Stefano Zanini (Italy) 88 5. Armstrong 81 6. Baldato 77 7. Alexandre Gontchenkov (Ukraine) 67 8. Gabriele Colombo (Italy) 58 9. Andrei Tchmil (Ukraine) 56 10. Max Sciandri (Britain) 55