Tirreno-Adriatico, Cat 2.1

Italy, March 12-19, 1997

Stages 5 to Final GC

1996 Stages 1 to 4

1996 Stages 5 to Final GC

  • Stages 1 to 4
  • Stage 5
  • Stage 6
  • Stage 7 and Final GC

    Report prior to Stage 5

    Former road race world champion Maurizio Fondriest pulled out of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycle race on Monday with back pains, officials said.

    The Italian, who joined the new Cofidis team late last year, was lying 11th overall after four stages, two minutes and 49 seconds behind leader Roberto Petito. The race ends on Wednesday.

    The withdrawal cast doubt over his presence at the Milan-San Remo classic on March 22.

    Fondriest won the road race title at the world championships in 1988 and finished first in the overall world cup standings in 1991 and 1993.

    The fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico is 187 km from Ferentillo to Corinaldo.

    Stage 5, Ferentillo-Corinaldo, 187 km:

     1. Andrea Ferrigato 			     4.39.15
 2. Michele Bartoli 
 3. Lars Michaelsen (Denmark) 
 4. Rolf Sorensen (Denmark) 
 5. Francesco Casagrande 
 6. Erik Zabel (Germany) 
 7. Rodolfo Massi 
 8. Gianluca Pianegonda 
 9. Paolo Bettini 
10.Dimitry Konyshev (Russia)              
11. Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den) 

17. Bo Hamburger (Den)                 	      all s.t. 
68. Jesper Skibby (Den)             		1:05 
70. Tristan Hoffman (Den)                 	s.t.

    GC after Stage 5:

     1. Pianegonda            		    20.29.32
 2. Roberto Petito                     		0.02 
 3. Beat Zberg (Switzerland)           		0.14
 4. Massimiliano Gentili               		0.25
 5. Davide Casarotto                   		0.26	
 6. Vassily Davidenko (Russia)         		0.42
 7. Luc Leblanc (France)               		0.48
 8. Francesco Frattini                 		0.50
 9. Massimo Donati                   		1:19
10.Bartoli                          		2:46
   
12. Rolf Sorensen (Den)               		2:57 
18. Bo Hamburger (Den)                		3:10 
37. Jesper Skibby (Den)               		5:06 
46. Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den)          	       11:05 
62. Lars Michaelsen (Den)            	       11:55

    Stage 5 Report

    Gianluca Pianegonda, who has trailed fellow-Italian Roberto Petito by 0.14 of a second for the past two days in the Tirreno-Adriatico cycle race, muscled his way into the lead at last on Monday.

    Pianegonda finished the 187-km fifth stage in the same time as the pack and Petito but, assisted by his team-mates, managed to pick up a two-second bonus on a day which saw former world champion Maurizio Fondriest pull out.

    The race finishes on Wednesday, allowing Petito time to re-capture the lead with all indications being that time bonuses are going to be where the race is won and lost.

    Italian Andrea Ferrigato won the stage, which proceeded uneventfully for two hours before the first genuine attempt at a breakaway, in four hours 39 minutes and 15 seconds.

    Fondriest, the 1988 road race world champion, pulled out complaining of back pains, casting some doubt over whether he would be competing in the Milan-San Remo classic on March 22. He had been 11th overall, two minute and 49 seconds behind.

    Tuesday's hilly sixth stage is 168 km to Montegranaro.

    Stage 6, Monte Urano-Montegranaro, 160 kms:

     
 1. Dimitry Konyshev (Russia) 		     3.57.38 
 2. Roberto Petito 				0.12
 3. Kai Hundertmark (Germany) 
 4. Francesco Casagrande 
 5. Michele Bartoli 
 6. Kevin Livingston (United States) 
 7. Stefano Della Santa 
 8. Massimiliano Gentili 
 9. Rolf Aldag (Germany) 
10. Beat Zberg (Switzerland)         		all s.t.

    GC after Stage 6

     1. Petito       			    24.27.21
 2. Gianluca Pianegonda               		0.09
 3. Zberg                            		0.15
 4. Gentili                          		0.26
 5. Davide Casarotto                 		0.27
 6. Vassily Davidenko                		0.51
 7. Luc Leblanc (France)            		0.57
 8. Massimo Donati                 		1:28
 9. Frattini (Ita) 				2.08
10. Bartoli 					2.47

    Stage 6 Report

    Russian rider Dimitri Konychev, from Team Roslotto, with a time of 3:57:38, won the sprint on the sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, which was disputed between Monte Urano and Montegranaro, for 168 kms. Italian Roberto Petito, from Saeco, who had lost the overall leadership yesterday, has regained it after coming in second on today's stage and earning a 3 second bonus while Gianluca Pianegonda came in 20 seconds behind.

    There were several attacks in the stage, but it was defined in the last four kilometers on the ascent to Montegranaro, where the finish was located, with an attack by Konychev, who was followed by Petito and a dozen other riders. An attack which Pianegonda didn't follow and which cost him the final overall lead at Tirreno-Adriatico, which concludes tomorrow (Wednesday) with the stage of Grottammare-San Benedetto del Tronto, of 159 kms. and where Petito will only have to mark Pianegonda.

    Roberto Petito regained the lead in the penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico cycle race on Tuesday after a duel with fellow Italian Gianluca Pianegonda.

    ``I saw Pianegonda was working hard and I gave it my all,'' Petito said after powering ahead in the climb to the line.

    Russia's Dimitry Konyshev took the hilly 160-km sixth stage from Monte Urano to Montegranaro in three hours 57 minutes 38 seconds with a blistering finish, 12 seconds clear of the pack.

    ``I'm not that old,'' joked the Russian, 31 last month.

    Pianegonda had taken the overall lead after a fast fifth stage on Monday, stealing a two-second advantage on Petito because of a bonus.

    In the sixth stage, Petito picked up the pace in the final dash, leading home the peloton. Pianegonda was 20 seconds adrift in 15th place and now lies nine seconds behind Petito overall.

    Wednesday's final stage is over 159 kms from Grottamare to San Benedetto del Tronto, with 100 kms of hills and five circuits along the sea front at the finish.

    Stage 7, Grottamare- San Benedetto del Tronto, 159 kms:

     1. Mario Traversoni 			3.53.05 
 2. Nicola Minali 
 3. Giovanni Lombardi 
 4. Biagio Conte 
 5. Zbigniew Spruch (Poland) 
 6. Nicolay Bo Larsen (Denmark) 
 7. Elio Aggiano 
 8. Sandro Giacomelli 
 9. Martin Hvastija (Slovenia) 
10. Andrea Noe                      all same time

    Final GC

     1. Roberto Petito  			    28.20.26
 2. Gianluca Pianegonda                 	0.09 
 3  Beat Zberg (Switzerland)            	0.15
 4. Massimiliano Gentili                	0.26
 5. Davide Casarotto                    	0.27
 6. Vassili Davidenko (Russia)          	0.51
 7. Massimo Donati                    		1:28
 8. Michele Bartoli                   		2:47
 9. Francesco Casagrande              		3:03
10. Rodolofo Massi                   		3:06

    Stage 7 Report

    Italian Roberto Petito savoured a rare victory on Wednesday when he triumphed in the Tirreno-Adriatico cycle race without winning a single stage.

    Petito, whose last win was in 1994, was crowned overall victor after the 159-km seventh and final stage from Grottamare to San Benedetto Del Tronto on the Adriatic coast.

    His time of 28 hours 20 minutes 26 seconds put him nine seconds ahead of compatriot Gianluca Pianegonda with Swiss rider Beat Zberg third.

    Petito, who had taken the overall lead after the second stage, lost it to Pianegonda, then regained it on Tuesday, attributed his success to new training methods.

    ``Now that I have won this I hope things will change,'' Petito said. ``My dream remains to win a classic before my form evaporates.''

    Mario Traversoni led the pack across the line on the final stage with Italians taking the top four slots.