Tour of the Meditteranean

The five day Tour of the Mediterranean began near Beziers and finishes on the steep slopes of Notre-Dame de La Garde in Marseilles. An early morning team time trial had all the top teams producing times within the same ten seconds. But the MG Maglificio team, who were last to start, registered the best time of the day, almost ten seconds ahead of the Lampre team of Maurizio Fondriest. This gave the first lead in the overall standings to Davide Rebellin.

The Motorola team, despite a crash inside the last kilometer, came in eighth place. Kevin Livingston, riding his first professional race, was the Motorolan who fell and the injury to his elbow required five stitches. After consultation with the race doctor he was able to start again in the afternoon. The short afternoon stage did however provide a new overall leader. Fabio Baldato took the stage victory ahead of the whole pack. The six bonus seconds he gained were enough to take the new overall lead from his team mate Rebellin.

Stage 1a - 10 km - Team time trial - Sauvian-Beziers

1.  MG Maglificio  11'28"
2.  Lampre         11'37"
3.  Mercatone Uno  11'41"
4.  Gan            11'42"
5.  Mapei-GB       11'44"
6.  Gewiss         17.30
7.  Aki            18.14
8.  Motorola       19.94

1. Fabio Baldato (Italy)       01:45:54
2. Roberto Petito (Italy)            01 secs.
3. Fabrizio Bontempi (Italy)         5
4. Michel Vermote (Belgium)          7
5. John Talen (Netherlands)          9
6. Rob Harmeling (Neherlands)
7. Michel Zanoli (Netherlands)
8. Jo Planckaert (Belgium)      all s.t.

G.C. after Day One

1. Fabio Baldato      MG Maglificio  Italy        1:57:16
2. Roberto Petito     Mercatone Uno  Italy           @ 15 secs
3. Luca Scinto        MG Maglificio  Italy           @ 15 secs
4. Maximilio Sciandri (Italy)
5. Gianni Bugno (Italy)
6. Davide Cassani (Italy)
7. Davide Rebellin (Italy)                         all s.t.
8. Marco Serpellini (Italy)                          @ 24 secs.

Race Report

Despite an average speed of more than 47 kilometres per hour and a stage dominated by a one hundred kilometer breakaway by Belgian Hendrik Redant, it again came down to a mass sprint for the stage victory. The win went to come-back rider, "El Magnifico" otherwise known as Mario Cipollini, who took his first victory since his terrible crash in last year's Tour of Spain, a crash which put him on the sidelines for the rest of the 1994 season. Cipollini, who claims to be "the fastest man in the World", scored an easy win over Giuseppe Citterio and Jo Plankaert.

The leaders jersey, however, remained firmly on the shoulders of overnight leader Fabio Baldato, who finished in fifth place. Again there were no major changes in the overall standings, but that will surely change today on the longest stage (225 kms) of this year's Tour between Berre to Antibes.

Stage 3 - 145 kms - Mauguio-Berre (Italy if not stated)

1. Mario Cipollini                    02:59:37
2. Giuseppe Citterio
3. Jo Planckaert (Belgium)
4. Dimitri Konichev (Russia)
5. Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (Uzbekistan)
6. Fabio Baldato
7. J.P. Heynderickx (Belgium)
8. Mars Michaelsen (Denmark)            all s.t.

1. Baldato                        4:56:53
2. Luca Scinto                         14 secs.
3. Roberto Petito                  s.t.
4. Maximilien Sciandri                 15 secs
5. Gianni Bugno
6. Davide Rebellin
7. Davide Cassanio                 all s.t.
8. Cipollini                           17

Stage 5 -130 kms - St Laurent du Var-Hyeres

1. Mario Cipollini (Italy)          03:19:03
2. Jo Planckaert (Belgium)
3. Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (Uzbekistan)
4. Mario Manzoni (Italy)
5. Stefano Zanini (Italy)
6. Olaf Ludwig (Germany)
7. Giuseppe Citterio (Italy)
8. Wilfried Peeters (Belgium)
9. Fabio Baldato (Italy)
10. Zbigniew Spruch (Poland)        all s.t.

Stage 6 - 33 kms - Hyeres-Toulon

1. Gianni Bugno (Italy)          00:53:08
2. Davide Rebellin (Italy)            s.t.
3. Dimitri Konyshev (Russia)          s.t.
4. Roberto Petito (Italy)             s.t.
5. Luca Gelfi (Italy)                  15 secs.
6. Laurent Brochard (France)           17
7. Axel Merckx (Belgium)               30
8. Andrea Noe (Italy)                  36
9. Richard Virenque (France)           45
10. Eddy Bouwmans (Netherlands)        48

1. Bugno                    14:21:14
2. Petito                         01 secs.
3. Rebellin                       s.t.
4. Konyshev                       19
5. Gelfi                          39
6. Merckx                         50
7. Noe                            52
8. Angelo Canzonieri (Italy)    1:03
9. Brochard                     1:14
10. Marco Serpellini (Italy)    1:16

Stage 7 - Final - 80 kms - Finish in Marseille

1. Gianni Bugno (Italy)         01:41:51
2. Angelo Canzonieri (Italy)          01 sec.
3. Roberto Petito (Italy)
4. Maurizio Fondriest (Italy)
5. Davide Rebellin (Italy)
6. Giuseppe Citterio (Italy)
7. Dimitri Konishev (Russia)
8. Luca Gelfi (Italy)
9. Johan Museeuw (Belgium)
10. Axel Merckx (Belgium)             all s.t.

1. Bugno                      16:02:55
2. Petito                           07 secs.
3. Rebellin                         12
4. Konishev                         30
5. Gelfi                            50
6. Merckx                         1:01
7. Andrea Noe (Italy)             1:03
8. Canzonieri                     1:08
9. Laurent Brochard (France)      1:25
10. Marco Serpellini (Italy)      1:27