33rd Menton-Savona - 1.6

Italy, February 25, 2003

2002 Results Results Past winners

Gianluca Coletta wins Menton - Savona

Gianluca Coletta (GS Grassi) has won the 33rd edition of the Italian elite/U23 race, Menton-Savona, held over 144.7 kilometres today. Coletta was the fastest of the 169 starters, beating Alessandro Vanotti (UC Bergamasca) and Enrico Di Martino (GS Grassi) at the finish. The race was run over parts of the Milan-San Remo course, and was fast from the beginning with a number of attacks and counter-attacks.

The first real breakaway happened at Albenga (km 80) when a group of seven riders escaped: Balasz Rohtmer (San Paolo Saeco), Manuel Dell'Acqua (Ceramiche Pagnoncelli), Maxim Rudenko (Juvenes Steriltom), Paolo Montanari (Bottoli Artoni), Tomasz Dejewski (Da-Ver Piaggio), Nicolas Boulenger (Amical Aixois) and Javier Pache (CC Etupes).

The seven rode hard, but could only get at most a minute's lead at Finale Ligure (km 100), and were caught near Bergeggi with 25 km to go. After that, the peloton tackled the 370m climb of Via alla Strà, where Gianluca Coletta (GS Grassi) and Alessandro Vanotti (UC Bergamasca For 3) attacked. The pair only managed a maximum lead of 15 seconds on what was left of the peloton, but it was enough to carry them home. With 1 km to go they still had 10 seconds, and Coletta launched his winning sprint with 700m to go to hold off the group by just 2 seconds. Vanotti also managed to keep his nose in front of the peloton, finishing second in front of Enrico Di Martino.

Results - 144.7 km

1 Gianluca Coletta (Ita) GS Grassi         3.28.00 (41.74 km/h)
2 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) UC Bergamasca
3 Enrico Di Martino (Ita) GS Grassi           0.02
4 Daniel Zych (Pol) GS Da - Ver
5 Aleksander Kuchinski (Blr) GS Grassi
6 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) GS Vezza Brunero
7 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Pagnoncelli
8 Andrea Curino (Ita) GS Bottoli Artoni
9 Maurizio Bellin (Ita) Juvenes Steriltom
10 Marco Bertoletti (Ita) GS Podenzano

Past winners

2002 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) San Paolo Saeco 
2001 Luca Barla (Ita)
2000 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita)
 
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com