89th Giro del Piemonte - 1.1

Italy, October 17, 2002

2001 Results Results Past winners

Paolini on top in Piemonte

Luca Paolini
Photo: © Sirotti

Mapei-Quick Step's Luca Paolini has won the 89th Giro del Piemonte in a bunch sprint. The 25 year old beat Telekom's Matthias Kessler and Tacconi's Gianluca Bortolami in his first win of the season. The mass sprint occurred after an attack by Marco Serpellini (Lampre) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) was chased down with 1 km to go.

"During the year I just missed out on winning many races and was not able to get onto the highest step of the winner's podium," said Paolini. "Today's win at one of the classic Italian races has rewarded me for all of the hard work I have put in throughout the season, and it also gives me confidence in myself. I’ll be taking part in the Tour of Lombardy with the objective of helping Paolo Bettini in winning the World Cup, something that would delight our team especially after mathematically winning the team classifications at Paris-Tours."

The race was hard from the start in Novi Ligure, with a number of riders trying to establish the early break, including Piil, Vainsteins, Wrolich, De Groot, Trenti, Tessier, Lastras and Azevedo at various stages. However the speed in the peloton was sufficiently high to bring them all back, and 44.3 km were covered in the first hour.

At 70 km, a 10 man break went with Vasseur, Stangelj, Faresin, Garcia Acosta, Sciandri, Klemencic, Moos, Calcagni, Vanotti and Vinokourov, which caused the peloton to split into three groups due to the strong winds. The maximum advantage obtained was only 10", and by km 82 the first part of the peloton (80 riders) caught the break. A counter attack by Casagrande succeeded in gaining him a few seconds, and he was joined by Fontanelli before the peloton recaptured the pair.

The next riders to try were Huser, Vainsteins and Mori who attacked at km 94, but were reabsorbed at km 106 due to the constant bagarre in the peloton. It wasn't until Roberto Savoldi (Mercatone Uno) attacked at Nizza Monferrato near the feed zone that there was finally a breakaway established. Savoldi gained a maximum lead of 2'15 but was caught at km 147, with the peloton still intact.

Luca Paolini
Photo: © Sirotti

5 km later, Roberto Conti (Acqua e Sapone) and Marco Serpellini (Lampre) set off for their attempt, succeeding in gaining 1'40 on the peloton by km 163. The pair worked together as they crossed the finish line in Casale Monferrato for the first time (km 170), until Serpellini dropped Conti on the climb of S. Anna (km 176). However he only had 42 seconds lead at the top to a lone Alexandre Vinokourov, who in turn had 10 seconds on the peloton.

Vinokourov had closed the gap to 30 seconds by the second time across the finish line (km 180), but the peloton was still close at 45 seconds behind Serpellini. Vicente Garcia Acosta managed to bridge to Vinokourov, but couldn't hang on on the last climb, and Vinokourov caught Serpellini with 7 km to go. Despite the pair's efforts to try and stay away, they were caught by the peloton with one kilometre to go. In the sprint, Luca Paolini proved too strong for Matthias Kessler and Gianluca Bortolami.

Photography

mages by Fotoreporter Sirotti

Luca Paolini (Mapei-Quick Step) crosses the line to win the 89th Giro del Piemonte
Luca Paolini (Mapei-Quick Step) salutes as he crosses the line
Luca Paolini (Mapei-Quick Step) gestures hypnotically
Who's the best then? Luca Paolini signals his triumph in Piemonte
Better than the rest Luca Paolini (Mapei) spreads his arms as he wins
Luca Paolini (Mapei-Quick Step) salutes from the podium
Luca Paolini (Mapei-Quick Step) gets his mandatory kiss
A very happy Luca Paolini (Mapei) waves to the crowd
The Piemonte podium (L to R): Matthias Kessler (Telekom, 2nd), Luca Paolini (Mapei, 1st) and Gianluca Bortolami (Tacconi, 3rd)

Images by Yuzuru Sunada/http://www.yuzurusunada.com/

Luca Paolini (Mapei-Quick Step) wins the 89th Giro del Piemonte
The Piemonte podium (L to R): Matthias Kessler (Telekom, 2nd), Luca Paolini (Mapei, 1st) and Gianluca Bortolami (Tacconi, 3rd)

Results - 193 km

1 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                    4.42.27 (40.998 km/h)
2 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom
3 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
4 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner
5 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank
6 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Mapei-Quick Step
7 Alessandro Guerra (Ita) Index Alexia
8 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis
9 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport
10 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
11 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre-Daikin
12 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
13 Vladimir Miholievic (Cro) Alessio
14 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
15 Tomas Konecny (Cze) Domo-Farm Frites
16 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank
17 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner
18 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) iBanesto.com
19 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo
20 Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
21 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites
22 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Mercatone Uno
23 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno
24 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
25 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast
26 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
27 Francisco J. Cerezo Perales (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali
28 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Team Coast
29 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) iBanesto.com
30 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites
31 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
32 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
33 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast
34 Dmitri Gaynitdinov (Rus) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
35 Massimo Cigana (Ita) Mercatone Uno
36 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
37 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
38 Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
39 Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita) Cofidis
40 Guido Trenti (USA) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo
41 Oliver Asmaker (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali
42 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio
43 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Mapei-Quick Step
44 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Mapei-Quick Step
45 Benoit Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole
46 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites
47 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
48 Vincent Cali (Fra) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
49 Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo
50 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski
51 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) iBanesto.com
52 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
53 José Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski
54 Matthé Pronk (Ned) Rabobank
55 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) ONCE-Eroski
56 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis
57 José Vincente Garcia Acosta (Spa) iBanesto.com
58 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank
59 Gorka Gerrikagoitia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
60 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
61 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner                           0.05
62 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport
63 Damiano Giannini (Ita) Index Alexia                       0.29
64 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom                   0.39
65 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team Coast                          1.01
66 Christopher Jenner (Fra) Credit Agricole
67 Simone Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo
68 Yohann Charpenteau (Fra) Credit Agricole
69 Hector Orlando Mesa Mesa (Col) Formaggi Trentini
70 Manuel Calvente Gorbas (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali
71 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
72 Marco Gili (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
73 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
74 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis
75 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro               3.49
76 Andris Reiss (Lat) Index Alexia
77 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) ONCE-Eroski                  4.58
78 Aitor Silloniz Aresti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
79 Roberto Conti (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo

Starters: 188
Classified: 79

Past winners

2001 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis 
2000 Not held
1999 Andrea Tafi (Ita)
1998 Marco Serpellini (Ita)
1997 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)
1996 Richard Virenque (Fra)
1995 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita)
1994 Nicola Miceli(Ita)
1993 Beat Zberg (Swi)
1992 Erik Breukink (Ned)
1991 Djamolidine Abdujaparov (Usb)
1990 Franco Ballerini (Ita)
1989 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita)
1988 Rolf Gölz (Ger)
1987 Adri Van der Poel (Ned)
1986 Gianni Bugno (Ita)
1985 Charly Mottet (Fra)
1984 Christian Jourdan (Fra)
1983 Guido Bontempi (Ita)
1982 Faustino Ruperez (Spa)
1981 Marino Amadori (Ita)
1980 Gianbattista Baronchelli (Ita)
1979 Silvano Contini (Ita)
1978 Gianbattista Baronchelli (Ita)
1977 Roger De Vlaeminck (Bel)
1974 Francesco Moser (Ita)
1973 Felice Gimondi (Ita)
1972 Eddy Merckx (Bel)
1971 Felice Gimondi (Ita)
1970 Italo Zilioli(Ita)
1969 Marino Basso (Ita)
1967 Guido De Rosso (Ita)
1966 Rudi Altig (Ger)
1965 Romeo Venturelli (Ita)
1964 Willy Bocklant (Bel)
1963 Adriano Durante (Ita)
1962 Vito Taccone (Ita)
1961 Angelo Conterno (Ita)
1960 Alfredo Sabbadin (Ita)
1959 Silvano Ciampi (Ita)
1958 Nino Defilippis (Ita)
1957 Silvano Ciampi (Ita)
1956 Fiorenzo Magni (Ita)
1955 Giuseppe Minardi (Ita)
1954 Nino Defilippis (Ita)
1953 Fiorenzo Magni (Ita)
1952 Giorgio Albani (Ita)
1951 Gino Bartali (Ita)
1950 Alfredo Martini (Ita)
1949 Adolfo Leoni (Ita)
1948 Renzo Soldani (Ita)
1947 Vito Ortelli (Ita)
1946 Sergio Maggini (Ita)
1945 Secondo Barisone (Ita)
1942 Fiorenzo Magni (Ita)
1941 Aldo Bini (Ita)
1940 Cino Cinelli (Ita)
1939 Gino Bartali (Ita)
1938 Pietro Rimoldi (Ita)
1937 Gino Bartali (Ita)
1936 Aldo Bini (Ita)
1935 Aldo Bini (Ita)
1934 Learco Guerra (Ita)
1933 Antonio Folco (Ita)
1932 Giuseppe Martano (Ita)
1931 Mario Cipriani (Ita)
1930 Ambrogio Morelli (Ita)
1929 Antonio Negrini (Ita)
1928 Marco Giuntelli (Ita)
1927 Alfredo Binda (Ita)
1926 Alfredo Binda (Ita)
1925 Gaetano Belloni (Ita)
1924 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1923 Bartolomeo Aymo (Ita)
1922 Angelo Cremo (Ita)
1921 Giovanni Brunero (Ita)
1920 Costante Girardengo (Ita)
1919 Costante Girar-dengo (Ita)
1918 Ugo Bianchi (Ita)
1917 Domenico Schierano (Ita)
1916 Francesco Cerutti (Ita)
1915 Natale Bosco (Ita)
1914 Giuseppe Santhia (Ita)
1913 Romolo Verde (Ita)
1912 Costante Costa (Ita)
1911 Mario Bruchera (Ita)
1910 Vincenzo Borgarello (Ita)
1908 Giovanni Gerbi (Ita)
1907 Giovanni Gerbi (Ita)
1906 Giovanni Gerbi (Ita)



Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com