41st Giro Friuli Venezia Giulia - 2.6

Italy, June 5-9, 2002

Stage list

The Stages

Stage 1 - June 5: 148 km
Stage 2 - June 6: Cividale - Forni Avoltri, 138 km
Stage 3 - June 7: Basiliano - Aviano, 157 km
Stage 4 - June 8: Udine - Trieste
Stage 5 - June 9: Villaorba - Villaorba, 151 km

Stage 1 - June 5, 148km

Report from Brian Stephens, AIS

The AIS team is here in Northern Italy with a very young group with Ben Johnson, Brendan Cato and Aaron Kemps being all first year under 23s, Mark Renshaw 2nd year and Bruce McIntosh a 3rd year. Today's stage turned out to be pretty tough both because of the course and due to the wild weather and tricky roads during the race. A group of 14 formed before the first major climb and from this group a group of 7 rode clear to arrive at the finish over 4 minutes clear of the next bunch. Luca Solari from Site Frezza beat this group home to take the stage. Amazingly, Site Frezza had their whole team of 5 in the break of 7. Next home was another group of 7, with a group of 30 including our 3 youngsters, right behind them. Ben Johnson finished 31st and Brenden Cato 36th.

Results

1 Luca Solari (Ita) Site Frezza                              3.42.07 (39.979kph)
2 Daniele Masolino (Ita) Parolin                                0.14
3 Allesandro Ballan (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei
4 Domenico Quagliariello (Ita) Site Frezza
5 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza
. . . 
31 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua                   4.34
36 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua 
53 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua                   5.21
67 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua                 12.40
68 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua

Stage 2 - June 6: Cividale - Forni Avoltri, 138 km

Report from Brian Stephens, AIS

The 2nd stage of the Giro Friuli turned out to be tougher and under worse weather confitions than the 1st. The staeg started with fine weather but as the bunch reached the mountains, it turned to torrential rain with much debris and rivers running down the roads. Bruce McIntosh went with an early break and stayed clear until the cat. 1 climb at the 80 km mark when it was caught by the main field.

The bunch exploded into many groups from there to the finish in Forni Avoltri. Our best were youngsters Ben Johnson and Brendan Cato who came in in 26th and 25th places respectively. The stage was again dominated by the Site Frezza team who ran 1,2,3 on the stage. 11 riders retired from the race.

Results

1 Domenico Quagliariello (Ita) Site Frezza      3.46.34
2 Giusseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza       
3 Luca Solari (Ita) Site Frezza              
4 Kristjan Fajt (Slo) Sava Kranj                   0.05
5 Santo Azna (Ita) Vellutex                        0.22
... 
25 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     6.08
26 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     
38 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     10.58
69 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua  17.10
89 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    23.50

General classification after stage 2

1 Luca Solari (Ita) Site Frezza                 7.28.41
2 Domenico Quagliariello (Ita) Site Frezza         0.16
3 Giusseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza      
4 Daniele Masolino (Ita) Parolin                   1.16
5 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei         1.24

26 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     10.42
27 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua
37 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     16.10
66 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua  29.50
84 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    36.30

Stage 3 - June 7: Basiliano - Aviano, 157 km

Report from Brian Stephens, AIS

The weather improved for the 3rd stage of the Giro Friuli but the recent weather still had an effect with the day's big climb being cancelled due to landslides. The modified course was fairly flat giving our sprinter, Mark Renshaw some hope of a result.

The first break of the day included Aaron Kemps and when the next group came across to them making 24 riders, Mark Renshaw was also there. Another 19 riders came across at about third distance including Bruce McIntosh and Ben Johnson. With 30km remaining 10 were dropped including Aaron leaving 33 in the front group including the leaders on GC. In the fast down hill sprint, Mark got to the front but was overtaken close to the line and ran 4th. Winner was Giuseppe Muraglia from Site Frezza, continuing their dominance of this race.

Results

1 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza            3.30.46 (44.694 km/h)
2 Matej Stare (Slo) Sava Kranj          
3 Bjorn Schwengeler (Swi) Hadimec          
4 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua       
5 Mateo Cacco (Ita) Coppi Gazzera          
...
31 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua       0.15
34 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    0.37
36 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua       7.11
68 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     10.41

General classification after stage 3

1 Luca Solari (Ita) Site Frezza                 10.59.27
2 Giusseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza              0.16
3 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei          1.24
4 Ezio Casagrande (Ita) Site Frezza                 1.36
5 Kristjan Fajt (Slo) Sava Kranj                    4.39
...
16 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua      10.57
33 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     21.23
41 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua      23.21
55 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua   30.27
60 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     36.30

Stage 4 - June 8: Udine - Trieste

Report from Brian Stephens, AIS

The 4th stage of the Giro Friuli started in Udine and finished in Trieste after crossing the long causway to Grado. The race started slowly but as the bunch moved close to the coast the wind picked up and around the causway several groups got clear and formed up into a bunch of 16. This group got to 2 and a half minutes before the main bunch chased seriously. It was never caught but the gap was reduced on the cat 2 climb in the last 20km of the race. The stage was won in a photo finish by Parolin's Daniele Masolino. Our 2 best came in with the main group with Brendan Cato running 21st and Ben Johnson, 33rd. Tomorrow is the last stage.

Results

1 Daniele Masolino (Ita) Parolin                 3.47.28
2 Robert Nagy (Swk) Mapei Hungary                 
3 Domenico Quagliariello (Ita) Site Frezza         
4 Anatoly Stepanyuk (Ukr) Sidi Colnago              0.05
5 Matteo Zecchin (Ita) Breganze                 
...
21 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua      1.17
33 Ben Joohnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     
41 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua       3.17
53 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua   
75 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua      4.15

General classification after stage 4

1 Luca Solari (Ita) Site Frezza                 14.48.12
2 Giusseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza              0.16
3 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei          1.24
4 Ezio Casagrande (Ita) Site Frezza                 1.36
5 Pawel Sendal (Pol) Miche Penna                    4.32
...
19 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua      10.57
31 Brendan Cato (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     21.23
41 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua      25.21
51 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua   32.27
60 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua     39.28

Stage 5 - June 9: Villaorba - Villaorba, 151 km

Report from Brian Stephens, AIS

The rain returned for the last stage of the Giro Friuli which started and finished in Villaorba. The course consisted of 2 flat laps through the finish, a big loop with 3 cat 3 climbs and a steep cat 2, then a flat run back to Villaorba for another 3 laps of the original circuit. The group stayed under control for the early stages and didn't really come alive until the cat 2 climb with about 40km remaining.

By that time we had lost Brendan Cato who crashed heavily on a descent and injured his knee, hip and elbow. We was taken to hospital and had stitches inserted into a wound on his hip and was picked up before the race had finished.

The bunch blew to pieces over the cat 2 climb but had reformed by the finish circuit but soon after a group of 11 got clear and were never headed. None of the Australians got into this break and had to be content to sprint for the remaining places with Mark Renshaw running 13th. Ben Johnson showed much promise to run 17th overall as a 1st year under 23. Of the original 125 riders, 79 finished the race.

Results

1 Dainius Kairelis (Ltu) Breganze             3.32.48
2 Paolo Cavicchiolo (Ita) Filmop                 
3 Matteo Priamo (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei           
4 Paolo Bonin (Ita) Filmop                  
5 Sandro Latternero (Ita) Coppi Gazzera          
...
13 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua   1.05
34 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    
50 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua 
64 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    

Final general classification

1 Luca Solari (Ita) Site Frezza               18.22.05
2 Giusseppe Muraglia (Ita) Site Frezza            0.16
3 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Trevigiani Mapei        1.24
4 Ezio Casagrande (Ita) Site Frezza               1.36
5 Pawel Sendal (Pol) Miche Penna                  4.32
...
19 Ben Johnson (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    10.57
36 Aaron Kemps (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua    25.21
49 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua 32.27
54 Mark Renshaw (Aus) AIS Australia Mapei Aqua   39.28