82nd Tre Valli Varesine - 1.1

Italy, August 20, 2002

2001 Results Results Past winners

Trittico Lombardo

Tre Valli Varesine - August 20
Coppa Agostoni - August 21
Coppa Bernocchi - August 22

Ratti wins with late burst

Ever so sweet
Photo: © Sirotti

Mapei-Quick Step's Eddy Ratti has won the first race of the Trittico Lombardo series, the 82nd Tre Valli Varesine. Just two days after his good ride in the Meisterschaft von Zürich, the 25 year old attacked the leading group on the final climb with 2 km to go to cross the line 9 seconds in front of a disappointed Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) and Laurent Dufaux (Alessio).

Ratti is in his third year as a professional, and has won just two races including this one. His other success came two weeks ago in the Regio Tour when he won a time trial stage. "Today, I realised I could make it in this profession," he said to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

He did profit from the fact that the favourites, Di Luca, Dufaux, Rebellin and Basso were all carefully watching each other as they approached the final climb of Ronchi, which has several 10% sections. Ratti attacked and gave it everything, there was no second chance and no looking around. It worked and he won a highly rated Italian classic.

"I know above all that this victory can be important for my career, because at the end of the year Mapei stops and I still don't know whether Quick Step will want me. I hope to get a contract from somewhere," he added.

"It was a hard race, with the two climbs of Dumenza and Ronchi that we repeated three and five times. When we got on the Varese circuit, Di Luca took the race into his hands. On the second lap he increased the tempo and only 20 of us stayed with him. On the last lap my teammate Paolini attacked with Popovych and Kessler, but Di Luca chased them down. I profited when he slowed down to recover."

Photography

Images by Fotoreporter Sirotti

Eddy Ratti (Mapei-Quick Step) profited from tentative riding from the pre-race favourites
Eddy Ratti (Mapei-Quick Step) crosses the line victorious
On the final climb of the Ronchi, Eddy Ratti (Mapei-Quick Step) attacked and gave it everything; it worked and he won a highly rated Italian classic
Danilo Di Luca (Saeco-Longoni Sport) was still able to take out the sprint for second, despite being chasing down the final attack by Ratti's teammate, Luca Paolini on his own
The podium - Eddy Ratti (Mapei-Quick Step, middle) the winner, ahead of second-placed Danilo Di Luca (Saeco-Longoni Sport, left) and Laurent Dufaux (Alessio, right)
Eddy Ratti (Mapei-Quick Step) lets loose with the champagne
"Today, I realised I could make it in this profession," declared Eddy Ratti (Mapei-Quick Step) after his victory

Results - 190.5 km

1 Eddy Ratti (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                4.41.25 (40.637 km/h)
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport            0.09 
3 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio  
4 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Mercatone Uno  
5 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Colombia-Selle Italia  
6 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner  
7 Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) Index-Alexia  
8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo  
9 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step  
10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago    0.22 
15 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Kelme                   0.29 

Starters: 171

Past winners

2002 Eddy Ratti (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 
2001 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco Macchine per Caffe 
2000 Massimo Donati (Ita)
1999 Sergio Barbero (Ita)
1998 Davide Rebellin (Ita)
1997 Roberto Caruso (Ita)
1996 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita)
1995 Roberto Caruso (Ita)
1994 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita)
1993 Massimo Ghirotto (Ita)
1992 Massimo Ghirotto (Ita)
1991 Guido Bontempi (Ita)
1990 Pascal Richard (Swi)
1989 Gianni Bugno (Ita)
1988 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1987 Franco Ballerini (Ita)
1986 Guido Bontempi (Ita)
1985 Giovanni Mantovani (Ita)
1984 Pierino Gavazzi (Ita)
1983 Alessandro Paganessi (Ita)
1982 Pierino Gavazzi (Ita)
1981 Gregor Braun (Ger)
1980 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1979 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1978 Francesco Moser (Ita)
1977 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1976 Francesco Moser (Ita)
1975 Fabrizio Fabbri (Ita)
1974 Costante Conti (Ita)
1973 Enrico Paolini (Ita)
1972 Giacinto Santambroggio (Ita)
1971 Giancarlo Polidori (Ita)
1970 Gianni Motta (Ita)
1969 Marino Basso (Ita)
1968 Eddy Merckx (Bel)
1967 Gianni Motta (Ita)
1966 Gianni Motta (Ita)
1965 Gianni Motta (Ita)
1964 Marino Vigna (Ita)
1963 Italo Zilioli (Ita)
1962 Giuseppe Ferrardi (Ita)
1961 Willy Vannitsen (Bel)
1960 Nino Defilippis (Ita)
1959 Dino Bruni (Ita)
1958 Carlo Nicolo (Ita)
1957 Germain Derijcke (Bel)
1956 Gastone Nencini (Ita)
1955 Fausto Coppi (Ita)
1954 Giorgio Albani (Ita)
1953 Nino Defilippis (Ita)
1952 Giuseppe Minardi (Ita)
1951 Guido De Santi (Ita)
1950 Antoni Bevilacqua (Ita)
1949 Nedo Logli (Ita)
1948 Fausto Coppi (Ita)
1947 Fiorenzo Magni (Ita)
1946 Enrico Mollo (Ita)
1945 Adolfo Leoni (Ita)
1942 Luciano Succi (Ita)
1941 Fausto Coppi (Ita)
1940 Cino Cinelli (Ita)
1939 Olimpio Bizzi (Ita)
1938 Gino Bartali (Ita)
1937 Olimpio Bizzi (Ita)
1936 Cesare Del Cancia (Ita)
1935 Piero Chiappini (Ita)
1934 Severino Canavesi (Ita)
1933 Alfredo Bovet (Ita)
1932 Domenico Piomontesi (Ita)
1931 Luigi Giacobe (Ita)
1930 Albino Binda (Ita)
1929 Ambrogio Morelli (Ita)
1928 Battista Visconti (Ita)
1927 Renato Zanone (Ita)
1926 Mario Bonvicini (Ita)
1925 Giovanni Tizzoni (Ita)
1924 Libero Ferrario (Ita)
1923 F. Brusatori (Ita)
1922 Domenico Pieomontesi (Ita)
1921 Adriano Zamaga (Ita)
1920 R. Rosa (Ita)
1919 Piero Bestetti (Ita)

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