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89th Meisterschaft von Zürich -Championnat de Zurich - CDM
Switzerland, August 18, 2002
Results Live report World Cup standings
Frigo flies to first World Cup Win In Zürich
Bettini takes command of World Cup overall
By Tim Maloney, European editor
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Dario Frigo is a rider who doesn't like hot weather. Last weekend in the cool and rainy Basque Country of Spain, Frigo was 5th in the Clasica San Sebastian and won Subida Urkiola the next day. Today, despite a warm late summer Sunday, the blond Italian from Milano turned up the heat on his adversaries with a massive attack on the final climb of the Pfannenstiel with 20km to race and soloed to his first-ever World Cup win.
"Last week in San Sebastian, I was in good form and today, despite the heat, my legs were good and I just gave it my all in the final. With all the top riders here today, I tried to ride my best today and I did it."
The delighted Frigo took his 6th win of the '02 season and 15th overall career victory, 1'07" ahead of runner-up Paolo Bettini, who took over the lead in the World Cup, just 2 points ahead of Belgian powerhouse Johan Museeuw, who abandoned after 150 km today.
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Bettini, too, was delighted with how his race went today, even if he was only runner-up after winning last year in Zürich. "Sure I wanted to win again, but the main objective today was to get (World Cup) points, said Bettini. "Frigo was really strong today and deserved to win. I was happy to be up front, especially since (key World Cup adversaries) Museeuw and Astarloa were not with the front group. (Mapei team-mates) Freire and Cañada helped me a lot today; I was trying to just stay in the front group and Freire brought me to the front at the right time. When the team rides this well, things can only go well."
Bettini now has a slim 2 point lead on Museeuw, with two races remaining in the 2003 World Cup, October's Paris-Tours and Giro di Lombardia.
Just a bike length behind Bettini was four time Tour De France champion Lance Armstrong (USPS), who had better legs today than last week in San Sebastian and surprisingly sprinted to a 3rd place podium spot and into 13th overall in the World Cup standings.
"Today was a tough race," said the Texan in a post-race interview. "It wasn't easy to find the right place to attack. It's been a long time since I was in a sprint, even for 2nd place and I'm happy I beat some other riders."
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Armstrong, runner-up at Zürich a decade ago, will next ride the GP Eddy Merckx next weekend, a two man TT in Brussels with team-mate Floyd Landis, then head back to Austin, Texas before riding his last race of the season in the San Francisco GP on September 15th.
Landis didn't finish today's Zürich race, abandoning with one lap to go, but the American was satisfied nonetheless. "It was a hard race today; hot and hilly. We did our job to get Lance into the right position so I'm happy that he was on the podium."
Italian TV's Davide Cassani reported during the Zürich race that following a conversation with the American star, Armstrong said would not ride the Giro d'Italia in 2003, but would concentrate on the Tour De France and World Championships in Hamilton, Ontario. However, Armstrong left the door open for a participation in the 2004 Giro d'Italia, according to Cassani.
How it unfolded
Today's 236.6km Championship of Zürich was presented by an American sponsor, Houston's BMC Software. Despite unpaid prize money from last year's edition and a threatened boycott, the Swiss round of the World Cup managed to get underway late this morning. After a slowish start, a big early break of 13 riders got away after 90km, including Americans Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), Bobby Julich and Kevin Livingston (Telekom) and Belgians Serge Baguet (Lotto) and Dave Bruylandts (Domo). This group got a maximum lead of 1'30", but Italian teams Mapei, Fassa Bortolo and Saeco were not letting anything gain major time today and the break came back with 85km to go.
However as the break was getting clear, a split in the peloton on the second lap saw World Cup leader Johan Museeuw (Domo) in the back group, along with 3rd in the World Cup Igor Astarloa. That was the last they would see of the front group, and they both subsequently abandoned.
An in-form Carlos Sastre (CSC-Tiscali) made a counter move on the penultimate climb up the Forch ascent and was joined by Rebellin watchdog Gianni Faresin (Gerolsteiner), Francesco Lara (Coast), Eddy Ratti (Mapei), Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo) and Bertoletti (Lampre). With 65km left and still two climbs up the 3km Pfannenstiel ascent remaining, the break only had 30" over the Saeco led peloton, which had been reduced to 60 riders from the heat and hard pace.
Sastre dumped the break on the last 2km up but his move backfired as the Saeco-led chase brought the race together on the long descent through deserted, bucolic farmland above Zürichsee. A major bagarre on the descent to start the final lap was fuelled by the sharp rivalry between Mapei and Fassa Bortolo today, as Saeco seemed to have used their key guys up bringing back the Sastre move.
With one 41km lap to race through the start/finish line along the lakefront in Zürich, Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) attacked along the lakefront and was joined by Mapei's young Spanish talent David Cañada. Bartoli is on the comeback trail, and how. After breaking his ankle on Stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia in Munster, Germany three months ago, Bartoli spent a month and a half off the bike in May and June, but even though the Pisano only has 2000km in his legs, he is still feeling his oats.
Two other riders came across to Bartoli and Cañada and on the final time up the Forch climb with 36km to race, the peloton were 1'20" behind a quartet consisting of Bartoli, Cañada, Paolo Valoti (Index-Alexia) and Juan Antonio Flecha (iBanesto). The impatient Bartoli had gone ahead to either win the race, but more likely, set the stage for team-mate Ivan Basso. Suddenly Bartoli either cracked or had a mechanical on the final stages of the Forch ascent and was dropped, getting back on over the top of the climb.
With 33km to go, the lead quartet had 1'30" but the remains of the peloton were stirring. Clad in his distinctive red Swiss champion's jersey, Alexandre Moos (Phonak) rode hard tempo on the front of the chase for his team leader, Oscar Camenzind. The former postman from Gersau, '98 World Champ, was raging, looking for a big win in front of the home crowd.
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With 25 km, Gerolsteiner's hard man Faresin joined the chase with Alessio's Andrea Ferrigato, riding hard for Laurent Dufaux, 2000 winner at Zürich. The gap was halved to 43" and with the final ascent of Pfannenstiel looming and Bartoli fading up front, the break was in big trouble. At the left hand turn up the tiny farm road up the Pfannenstiel climb, the gap was only 15" with 22km left. Ivanov (Fassa Bortolo) quickly bridged up to the remnants of the break as his team-mate Bartoli faded for good, but it was just the wrong move at the wrong time.
The break was absorbed halfway up the climb and with 1 km left on the 3 km final ascension, the close-cropped blond head of Dario Frigo attacked up the left side of the road off of Davide Rebellin's wheel.
"I knew everything would be decided on the last lap. It was lucky we got to the bottom of the final climb and the break was so close," said Frigo. "I went as hard as I could in the final and if I was caught, at least I would have had a clear conscience that I gave it my all."
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Frigo's powerful move was timed perfectly and he pounded over the summit of the Pfannenstiel with 15" on the fragmented chase, led by Ivan Basso.
Frigo's power-packed final surge up the last 800m. of the Pfannenstiel was the definitive race winning move today, as the Tacconi man is the current Italian TT champ; simply uncatchable by the chasers with mostly downhill and lakeside 14 km remaining. Frigo took the solo win ahead of "Grillo" Bettini, who sprinted into the lead in the World Cup classification today. Now Frigo will ride the main Italian races until the season end, when the Tacconi rider will ride the World Cup final in the Giro di Lombardia.
Photography
Photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti
- Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) and Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) lead the charge on the Pfannenstiel.
- David Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Paolo Bettini (Mapei) in pursuit of Dario Frigo.
- Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) suffers on the Pfannenstiel climb
- Lance Armstrong (US Postal) leading the group on the Pfannenstiel climb.
- Dario Frigo (Tacconi) attacks on the Pfannenstiel climb on the last lap.
- Dario Frigo (Tacconi) raises his arm in victory as his crosses the line to win the Meisterschaft von Zürich
- Yes! Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) wins the sprint for second.
- Dario Frigo (Tacconi) raises his arm on the podium
- The podium (L to R): Lance Armstrong (USPS, 3rd), Dario Frigo (Tacconi Sport, 1st) and Paolo Bettini (Mapei, 2nd)
- Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) on the podium in his World Cup jersey
- Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) kisses his World Cup jersey
- Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) and Dario Frigo (Tacconi) look very happy with their spoils.
Photos by AFP
- Dario Frigo (Tacconi Sport) raises his arm in triumph as he wins the 89th Meisterschaft von Zürich
- The podium (L to R): Lance Armstrong (USPS, 3rd), Dario Frigo (Tacconi Sport, 1st) and Paolo Bettini (Mapei, 2nd)
Results - 236.6 km
1 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport 5.56.54 (39.775 km/h) 2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.06 3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 4 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 6 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 7 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 8 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 9 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 10 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio 11 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Fassa Bortolo 12 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport 13 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Index Alexia 1.25 14 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1.34 15 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport 16 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport 17 Richard Virenque (Fra) Domo-Farm Frites 18 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 19 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 20 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 21 Simone Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 22 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 23 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 24 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 25 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 26 Pierre Bourquenoud (Swi) Oktos-Saint-Quentin 27 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo 28 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 29 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 30 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) iBanesto.com 31 Fernando Escartin Coti (Spa) Team Coast 32 Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) Index Alexia 4.17 33 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal Service 34 Francisco Javier Cerezo Perales (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 35 Bo Hamburger (Den) Index Alexia 36 Andreď Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 37 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 38 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 39 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio 7.14 40 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport 41 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 42 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 43 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 44 José Alberto Martinez Trinidad (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 45 Tom Stremersch (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 46 José Lara Ruiz Francisco (Spa) Team Coast 47 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 48 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 49 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 7.17 50 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 11.27 51 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo 52 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Tacconi Sport 13.45 53 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 16.48 54 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems DNS Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Eddy Ratti (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Charles Wegelius (GBr) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Udo Bölts (Ger) Team Telekom DNF Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) Team Telekom DNF Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Telekom DNF Kevin Livingston (USA) Team Telekom DNF Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom DNF Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom DNF Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service DNF Antonio Cruz (USA) US Postal Service DNF Benoît Joachim (Lux) US Postal Service DNF Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal Service DNF Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal Service DNF Pavel Padrnos (Cze) US Postal Service DNF Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites DNF Steven Kleynen (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites DNF Tomas Konecny (Cze) Domo-Farm Frites DNF Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites DNF Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites DNF Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites DNF Aitor Garmendia Arbilla (Spa) Team Coast DNF Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast DNF Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast DNF Raphael Schweda (Ger) Team Coast DNF Alex Zuelle (Swi) Team Coast DNF Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo DNF Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo DNF Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo DNF Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo DNF Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Credit Agricole DNF Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole DNF Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole DNF Christopher Jenner (Fra) Credit Agricole DNF Anthony Morin (Fra) Credit Agricole DNF Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole DNF Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole DNF Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali DNF Manuel Calvente Gorbas (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali DNF Danny Jonasson (Den) Team CSC Tiscali DNF Michael Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali DNF Martin Rittsel (Swe) Team CSC Tiscali DNF Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo DNF Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo DNF Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo DNF Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo DNF Michele Scarponi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo DNF Daniel Atienza Urendez (Spa) Cofidis DNF Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Cofidis DNF Bingen Fernandez Bustinza (Spa) Cofidis DNF Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis DNF Jean Michel Tessier (Fra) Cofidis DNF Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis DNF Lander Euba Ziarrusta (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Igor Flores Galarza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Aitor Silloniz Aresti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alessio DNF Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio DNF Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Alessio DNF Stefano Casagranda (Ita) Alessio DNF Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner DNF Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Gerolsteiner DNF Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner DNF Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner DNF Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Gerolsteiner DNF Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco DNF Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco DNF Kurt Van Lancker (Bel) Lotto-Adecco DNF Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco DNF Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco DNF Alessandro Guerra (Ita) Index Alexia DNF Damiano Giannini (Ita) Index Alexia DNF Marco Magnani (Ita) Index Alexia DNF Daniele Righi (Ita) Index Alexia DNF Gianluca Valoti (Ita) Index Alexia DNF Milan Kadlec (Cze) Lampre-Daikin DNF Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Lampre-Daikin DNF Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre-Daikin DNF Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin DNF Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin DNF Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre-Daikin DNF Reto Bergmann (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems DNF Roger Beuchat (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems DNF Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) Phonak Hearing Systems DNF Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems DNF Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems DNF Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank DNF Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank DNF Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank DNF Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank DNF Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank DNF Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport DNF Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport DNF Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport DNF Alessio Galletti (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport DNF Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe-Longoni Sport DNF Massimo Donati (Ita) Tacconi Sport DNF Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport DNF Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi Sport DNF Pietro Zucconi (Swi) Tacconi Sport DNF Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Tacconi Sport DNF Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) iBanesto.com DNF Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) iBanesto.com DNF Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com DNF Unai Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) iBanesto.com DNF Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) iBanesto.com DNF René Andrle (Cze) ONCE-Eroski DNF Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE-Eroski DNF Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) ONCE-Eroski DNF Jan Hruska (Cze) ONCE-Eroski DNF Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) ONCE-Eroski DNF Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) ONCE-Eroski DNF Vincent Bader (Swi) Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Sergeď Krushevskiy (Uzb) Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Jean Nuttli (Swi) Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Roman Peter (Swi) Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Christophe Rinero (Fra) Oktos-Saint-Quentin Starters: 177 Classified: 54
World Cup standings after round 8
1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 272 pts 2 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 270 3 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 152 4 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 142 5 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport 136 6 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal Service 124 7 Peter van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 121 8 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 109 9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 109 10 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 100
