Giro di Lombardia - Italy


Giro di Lombardia (Oct 21) 252km

1. Gianni Faresin (It, Lampre) 5.49.02 2. Daniele Nardello (It, Mapei) +19 secs 3. Michele Bartoli (It, Mercatone Uno) s.t 4. Rolf Sorensen (Den, MG) +1.02 5. Stefano Zanini (It, Gewiss) 6. Claudio Chiappucci (It, Carrera) 7. Francesco Casagrande (It, Mercatone Uno) 8. Pascal Richard (Swi, MG) 9. Roberto Pistore (It, Polti) 10. Felice Puttini (Swi, Refin) 11. Mauro Gianetti (Swi, Polti) 12. Paolo Lanfranchi (It, Brescialat) 13. Stefano Della Santa (It, Mapei) 14. Pavel Tonkov (Rus, Lampre) 15. Pascal Herve (Fr, Festina) 16. Abraham Olano (Spain, Mapei) 17. Zenon Jaskula (Pol, Aki) all s.t. 18 Bobrik (Rus, Gewiss) +1.05 19 Konychev (Rus, Aki) +4.03 20. Bugno (It, MG) 21. Ugrumov 22. Roux 23. Pellicioli all s.t. 24. Giraldi +5.00 25. Calzolari 26. Voskamp 27. Lecchi all s.t. 28. Den Bakker +6.42 29 Tebaldi 30. Brignoli all s.t. 31. Colage +11.12 32. Elli 33. Noe 34. Bolts 35. Holm 36. Ekimov 37. Piepoli 38. Settembrini all s.t. 39. Vermey +14.05 40. Santaromita 41. Gotti 42. Boscardin all s.t. 43. Serpellini +16.47 44. Zamana 45. Fidanza 46. G. Petito 47. Guidi 48. Vasseur 49. Menegotto 50 Johnsen 51. Gubert 52. Hampsten 53. Fina 54. Dekker 55. Belli 56. Peron 57. Jaermann all s.t. (165 starters, 57 finishers)

Film of the Race

The race immediately reached a rapid pace. At km10 28 riders escaped, including Fondriest and French riders Petilleau, Vasseur and Bourgeot. The latter did not hang on long. 42.56km were covered inthe first hour.

At the summit of the Madonna del Ghisallo (km98) the lead group had lost several riders but Nardello and Lecchi had joined it. There were now 13 riders in the lead group which was 1.46 clear -- Sataromita, Elli, Piepoli, Dekker, Nardello, Boscardin, Jaermann, Bolts, Puttini, Fina, Ugrumov, Pellicioli and Lecchi. The peloton, meanwhile was led by the Polti team. In the descent of the Ghisallo 18 riders broke clear in a couter-attack, notably Gianetti, Sorensen and Zanini. Their efforts were in vain, st the summit of the Col de Brianza (km128) the lead group of 13 was 1.56 ahead of the peloton.

In the 8km of the hard climb of the Valpiana the group of 13 shattered with Pellicioli, Ugrumov, Lecchi, Piepoli, Nardello, Puttini and Jaermann taking a leading position. At the summit (160km) these seven had 18 seconds on nine others (including Faresin and Bartoli), 26 seconds on Fr. Casagrande, and 36 on a group that included Richard, Chiappucci, Gianetti, Bobrik, Zanini, Sorensen, Olano, Herve and 1.20 on a group including Bugno. There was a regroupement on the descent, with a lead group of 45 the first time into Bergamo, with 60km to the finish.

Faresin attacked at 55km to the finish but was rapidly brought back. With 49km to go Brignoli hung out 15 secs clear of Jaskula, Jaermann, Pistore and Nardello, with a further group at 48 secs from which Faresin and Bartoli broke clear. At the foot of the Gallo climb six riders led the ascent: Bartoli, Jaskula, Nardello, Pistore and Faresin. Bartoli attacked 2km into the climb and reached the summit (30km to go) with a lead of 42 secs on Faresin and Nardello, 1.41 on Pistore and Gianetti, 2.00 on Bobrik, Jaskula, Zanini, Herve, Olano, Richard, Puttini and Sorensen. 2.20 on Chiappucci, Della Santa and Lanfranchi and 2.40 on Bugno.

20km from the finish Bartoli had a lead of 33secs on Faresin and Nardello but they rejoined him at 15km to go. With 8km to go the trio had 1.05 on a group of 15. Faresin attacked at 2km to go...