1. Mirko Gualdi (Ita) Polti 4.27.41 (44.829 kph) 2. Alessandro Pozzi (Ita) 3. Jose' J. Gonzalez Pico (Col) 4. Mariano Piccoli (Ita) 0.31 5. Marco Vergnani (Ita) 6. Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) 7. Andrea Brognara (Ita) 8. Gianni Faresin (Ita) 9. Stefano Finesso (Ita) 0.40 10. Viatcheslav Djavanian (Rus) 1.31 11. Fabio Roscioli (Ita) 5.36 12. Elio AggianO (Ita) 13. Jose' Anegl Vidal (Spa) 14. Bruno Cenghialta (Ita) 15. Andrea Patuelli (Ita) 16. Mauro SantaRomita (Ita) 5.40 17. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) 5.46 18. Maurizio Molinari (Ita) 19. Marcos Serrano (Spa) 20. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) 29. Ivan Gotti (Ita) 31. Luc Leblanc (Fra) 39. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) 44. Nicola Miceli (Ita) 47. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) 57. Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) 65. Eugeni Berzin (Rus) 79. Gianni Bugno (Ita) 8.04 105. Mario Cipollini (Ita) 9.31 138. Sandro Giacomelli (Ita) 10.42 Started 140, Finished 138. Retired: Dario Andriotto (Ita) and Mirko Celestino (Ita)
1. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Saeco 78.27.23 2. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) 0.51 3. Luc Leblanc (Fra) 3.02 4. Alexandre Chefer (Kaz) 3.40 5. Nicola Miceli (Ita) 4.07 6. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) 6.17 7. Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) 7.56 8. Wladimir Belli (Ita) 8.17 9. Axel Merckx (Bel) 9.42 10. Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) 10.26 11. Marcos Serrano (Spa) 11.31 12. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) 11.37 13. Felix Garcia Casas (Spa) 11.58 14. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) 13.11 15. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) 13.45 16. Andrea Noe (Ita) 16.30 17. Jose. Luis Rubiera (Spa) 19.07 18. Eugeni Berzin (Rus) 19.14 19. Paolo Bettini (Ita) 20.28 20. Alberto Volpi (Ita) 22.24
With Alessandro Pozzi and Colombian Jose Gonzalez in his wake, the Italian raced in after averaging almost 45 kph over the 200 kms from Dalmine.
They were five minutes and 46 seconds ahead of Giro leader Ivan Gotti and his rivals, Russian Pavel Tonkov and Frenchman Luc Leblanc, but were no threat to the contenders.
Gotti takes his advantage of 51 seconds into Wednesday's 40 kms time trial when his biggest worry will be Tonkov.
``With the leader's pink jersey I feel stronger,'' Gotti said.
Gualdi won the world amateur road race title in Japan in 1990 then had to wait three years for his next success in the Tour of Poland.
This victory was only his third in a career punctuated by misfortune.
In 1994 he needed two operations on his shoulder then a year later spent two months in bed after another operation for a ruptured disc.
Gualdi has had to nurse himself through the last two days after sickness sent his temperature soaring.
``Each time it seems I have had to restart my career,'' said Gualdi who was without a contract four years ago before Giosue'(correct) Zenoni, then manager of his current team, took him on.
``He gave me a chance,'' said Gualdi who has stayed loyal to the team, and now has third-placed contender Leblanc as a teammate.
Gualdi had to chase to join leaders Gonzalez and Pozzi in the final 10 kms of Tuesday's stage
Giro d'Italia leader Ivan Gotti faces the moment of truth in Wednesday's 40-km time trial.
Man versus the flicking 'second' hand on the watch is, to the world of cycling, the true test of a rider.
It is the day the Italian fears. Russian Pavel Tonkov could reduce or wipe out his lead of 51 seconds as they race from Baselga di Pine' to Cavalese.
``I occasionally train with Gotti and I know his weak points,'' said Tonkov. ``If I don't take the pink jersey in the time trial then I can use those weaknesses to attack him in the mountain stages.
``The time trial is important but Giro victory does not depend on it.''
Wednesday's race against the clock takes the 138 riders through the 'kingdom' of Francesco Moser who sped into Giro records with the most time trial wins.
In 10 years from 1976 he won 12, twice the score of other top performers, Frenchman Jacques Anquetil and Belgian Eddy Merckx.
Moser now lives 40 kilometres from Cavalese where he won a Giro time trial in 1978.
In comparison,Tonkov is a lightweight with only one time trial victory. It came more than two weeks ago in San Marino when he surprisingly beat compatriot Yevgeny Berzin by 21 seconds and Gotti by 55 seconds.
On the way to his 1994 Giro triumph Berzin twice beat Miguel Indurain whose five triumphs in the Tour de France were founded in time trials.
When Berzin beat Spain's Abraham Olano by one second in the 1996 Giro time trial at Marostica, Tonkov was slower by 1:27.
Berzin is languishing in 18th place overall, more than 19 minutes adrift of Gotti. Wednesday's time trial is his last chance of glory in this Giro.
Pantani, who returned to the saddle only three months ago after a 16-month lay-off following a near-fatal crash in a race in October 1995, will compete in Bologna, his team manager Davide Cassani said on Tuesday.
``That's the plan,'' Cassani said. He said Pantani, who suffered muscle injuries, swelling and bruising to his left leg when he fell in the Giro on May 25, went for a three-hour ride on Tuesday, his first since the accident.
Pantani aims to compete in this month's Tour of Switzerland and the Tour de France in July.
A little later the peloton broke up again and a group of 34 riders jumped ahead, none of them dangerous for Gotti's lead. That group lost members and was reduced to 8 men when the passed the finish line for the first time, since the last 80 km were raced in a circuit in Verona, the same where the Worlds will be disputed in 1999, where they would have to take 5 laps. There was no mercy and the situation changed continuously amongst the escapees, especially at the climb of Torricelli, a category 3. The main peloton kept on losing time and even though Saeco kept a high tempo up front, the gap grew to 7 min on the penultimate lap. Meanwhile in the front group, Colombian Jose Jaime Gonzalez (Kelme) was trying to escape from the breakaway group and finally was able to do it on the penultimate climb of Torricelli.
Gonzalez took the stage for himself in the next kilometers, as he stayed in the front by himself, but wasn't able to open a big enough gap and was caught on the last climb by Italians Gualdi & Pozzi. In the main peloton, the only jump came from Leblanc, which was answered by Gotti rapidly. The trio up front stayed together during the descent. And then there were attacks by Pozzi first, then Gualdi and finally a couple of attempts by Chepe Gonzalez, which brough it to the sprint, which was taken by Gualdi.
1. GUALDI MIRCO (Ita - Team Polti) km 200 in 4.27'41" (abb. 12"), media 44.829; 2. POZZI ALESSANDRO (Ita - Cantina Tollo-Carrier) s.t. (abb. 8"); 3. GONZALEZ PICO CHEPE (Col - Kelme Costa Blanca) s.t. (abb. 4"); 4. Piccoli a 31"; 5. Vergnani; 6. Gasperoni; 7. Brognara; 8. Faresin; 9. Finesso a 40"; 10. Djavanian a 1'31"; 11. Roscioli a 5'36"; 12. Aggiano; 13. Vidal; 14. Cenghialta; 15. Patuelli; 16. Santaromita a 5'40"; 17. Bortolami a 5'46"; 18. Molinari; 19. Serrano; 20. Savoldelli; 21. Bettini; 22. Mazzanti; 23. Calzavara; 24. Magnusson; 25. Pierdomenico; 26. Garzelli; 27. Gonzalez Gutierrez; 28. Frigo; 29. Gotti; 30. Donati; 31. Leblanc; 32. Noe; 33. Guerini; 34. Gontchar; 35. Scopsi; 36. Di Grande; 37. De Paoli; 38. Sivakov; 39. Tonkov; 40. Missaglia; 41. Shefer; 42. Jeker; 43. Merckx; 44. Miceli; 45. Forconi; 46. Rubiera; 47. Piepoli; 48. Garcia Casas; 49. Gomez Gonzalo; 50. Puttini; 51. Siboni; 52. Podenzana; 53. Paluan; 54. Secchiari; 55. Pianegonda; 56. Lanfranchi; 57. Sgambelluri; 58. Barbero; 59. Belli; 60. Spezialetti; 61. Laddomada; 62. Volpi; 63. Hernandez; 64. Petito; 65. Berzin; 66. Velo; 67. Spruch; 68. Bramati; 69. Conti; 70. Fincato; 71. Gentili; 72. Peschel; 73. Lebreton; 74. Crepaldi; 75. Poser a 8'04"; 76. Zanette; 77. Manzoni; 78. Loda; 79. Bugno; 80. Galletti; 81. Sacchi; 82. Bontempi; 83. Mondini; 84. Konyshev; 85. Pelliccioli; 86. Della Vedova; 87. Ouslamine; 88. Lozano; 89. Frattini F.; 90. Bettin; 91. Baldato; 92. Padrnos; 93. Steinhauser; 94. Cabello; 95. Pistore; 96. Lecchi; 97. Caruso; 98. Apollonio; 99. Dotti; 100. Coppolillo; 101. Tani; 102. Fontanelli; 103. Bottaro; 104. Pumar; 105. Cipollini a 9'31"; 106. Larsen a 10'24"; 107. Wust; 108. Schmidt; 109. Werner; 110. Boscardin; 111. Davidenko; 112. Cassani; 113. Brasi; 114. Alberati; 115. Edo; 116. Calcaterra; 117. Vatteroni; 118. Fornaciari; 119. Chiesa; 120. Baronti; 121. Lietti; 122. Bonetti; 123. Frattini C.; 124. Giraldi; 125. Leoni; 126. Rossato; 127. Dalla Costa; 128. Traversoni; 129. Hvastija; 130. Gallorini; 131. Barbagli; 132. Tebaldi; 133. Ouchakov; 134. Casagrande Fil.; 135. Moos; 136. Cauz; 137. Di Renzo a 10'42"; 138. Giacomelli. Started the Race: 180. Started the stage: 140. Finished: 138. Retired: 2 (Andriotto & Celestino). General Classification: 1. GOTTI IVAN (Ita - Saeco) in 78.27'23", media 39.218; 2. TONKOV PAVEL (Rus - Mapei-GB) a 51"; 3. LEBLANC LUC (Fra - Team Polti) a 3'02"; 4. Shefer a 3'40"; 5. Miceli a 4'07"; 6. Guerini a 6'17"; 7. Di Grande a 7'56"; 8. Belli a 8'17"; 9. Merckx a 9'42"; 10. Gontchar a 10'26"; 11. Serrano a 11'31"; 12. Piepoli a 11'37"; 13. Garcia Casas a 11'58"; 14. Garzelli a 13'11"; 15. Savoldelli a 13'45"; 16. Noe a 16'30"; 17. Rubiera a 19'07"; 18. Berzin a 19'14"; 19. Bettini a 20'28"; 20. Volpi a 22'24"; 21. Frigo a 24'20"; 22. Secchiari a 28'17"; 23. Gentili a 29'39"; 24. Forconi a 30'38"; 25. Conti a 32'05"; 26. Gomez Gonzalo a 32'29"; 27. Gonzalez Pico a 35'; 28 Podenzana a 37'29"; 29. Faresin a 38'28"; 30. Petito a 40'52"; 31. Mazzanti a 44'29"; 32. Sgambelluri a 46'06"; 33. Siboni a 46'20"; 34. De Paoli a 46'48"; 35. Paluan a 46'55"; 36. Piccoli a 47'37"; 37. Velo a 48'33"; 38. Puttini a 48'48"; 39. Pellicioli a 49'57"; 40. Jeker a 50'32"; 41. Coppolillo a 55'27"; 42. Gasperoni a 56'43"; 43. Donati a 56'55"; 44. Cenghialta a 59'37"; 45. Pierdomenico a 59'55"; 46. 46. Bortolami a 1.01'29"; 47. Steinhauser a 1.02'26"; 48. Calzavara a 1.03'12"; 49. Patuelli a 1.03'50"; 50. Loda a 1.03'52"; 51. Barbero a 1.09'31"; 52. Sivakov a 1.10'06"; 53. Konyshev a 1.12'25"; 54. Pistore a 1.15'37"; 55. Vergnani a 1.16'; 56. Lanfranchi a 1.16'16"; 57. Padrnos a 1.18'23"; 58. Spezialetti a 1.18'25"; 59. Lozano a 1.19'58"; 60. Ouslamine a 1.20'53"; 61. Dotti a 1.22'18"; 62. Lecchi a 1.26'11"; 63. Molinari a 1.26'30"; 64. Laddomada a 1.27'06"; 65. Gonzalez Gutierrez a 1.27'15"; 66. Hernandez a 1.28'37"; 67. Fincato a 1.28'41"; 68. Frattini F. a 1.30'21"; 69. Finesso a 1.33'41"; 70. Vatteroni a 1.34'23"; 71. Davidenko a 1.34'39"; 72. Roscioli a 1.35'17"; 73. Missaglia a 1.35'32"; 74. Della Vedova a 1.37'50"; 75. Brognara a 1.38'03"; 76. Hvastija a 1.41'38"; 77. Gualdi a 1.42'53"; 78 Poser a 1.45'12"; 79. Tebaldi a 1.47'01"; 80. Lebreton a 1.48'25"; 81. Mondini a 1.49'16"; 82. Tani a 1.49'41"; 83. Boscardin a 1.50'10"; 84. Baldato a 1.50'11"; 85. Manzoni a 1.50'16"; 86. Casagrande Fil. a 1.50'27"; 87. Chiesa a 1.51'49"; . 88. Galletti a 1.52'25"; 89. Pozzi A. a 1.52'49"; 90. Frattini C. a 1.52'57"; 91. Crepaldi a 1.53'42"; 92. Pumar a 1.54'15"; 93. Lietti a 1.54'45"; 94. Bonetti a 1.55'41"; 95. Caruso a 1.55'54"; 96. Baronti a 1.58'27"; 97. Alberati a 1.58'42"; 98. Cabello a 1.59'53"; 99. Vidal Martinez a 2.00'11"; 100. Apollonio a 2.00'26"; 101. Zanette a 2.00'27"; 102. Giraldi a 2.00'35"; 103. Scopsi a 2.00'48"; 104. Ouchakov a 2.04'20"; 105 Fontanelli a 2.04'30"; 106. Bugno a 2.05'03"; 107. Brasi a 2.06'14"; 108. Bramati a 2.06'35"; 109. Cipollini a 2.07'53"; 110. Barbagli a 2.09'01"; 111. Gallorini a 2.11'07"; 112. Sacchi a 2.11'16"; 113. Traversoni a 2.13'16"; 114. Bettin a 2.13'48"; 115. Dalla Costa a 2.14'49"; 116. Djavanian a 2.15'20"; 117. Werner a 2.15'20"; 118. Larsen a 2.16'53"; 119 Moos a 2.17'11"; 120. Magnusson a 2.17'18"; 121. Edo Alsina a 2.19'08"; 122. Spruch a 2.20'29"; 123. Wust a 2.21'50"; 124. Leoni a 2.21'54"; 125. Bottaro a 2.23'29"; 126. Fornaciari a 2.23'56"; 127. Peschel a 2.26'10"; 128. Pianegonda a 2.26'57"; 129. Bontempi a 2.28'57"; 130. Cassani a 2.29'25"; 131. Santaromita a 2.35'29"; 132. Calcaterra a 2.36'41"; 133. Schmidt a 2.37'17"; 134. Aggiano a 2.37'23"; 135. Giacomelli a 2.50'53"; 136. Cauz a 2.58'40"; 137. Di Renzo a 3.03'34"; 138. Rossato a 3.04'47".