4th Giro della Provincia di Lucca - 2.3

Italy, October 1-4, 2002

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Stage 1 - October 1: Pescia - Castelvecchio Pascoli, 165 km

Fabiano Fontanelli wins first stage

Fabiano Fontanelli
Photo: © Sirotti

Mercatone Uno victories have been hard to come by this year, but Fabiano Fontanelli, showing excellent late season form, has claimed one in the first stage of the Giro della Provincia di Lucca. Fontanelli has been in the top 10 in all of the late season Italian classics: GP Prato, Coppa Sabatini, Giro dell'Emilia, Milano-Vignola. However his consistency hasn't convinced Italian selector Franco Ballerini to include him in the world championship team, such is the depth of the squad.

145 riders left Pescia just after noon bound for Castelvecchio Pascoli, via a 110 kilometre route combined with three laps of a 17.7 km finishing circuit. After a moderate first hour at 39.3 km/h, the peloton tackled the climb of Foce di Trebbio (735m), where there were several attacks but all were unsuccessful. At the base of the descent, after passing through Collodi (km 63) there was an attack by 14 riders: Burrow, Garcia Alonso, Peron, Virenque, Tosatto, Reiss, Bertogliati, Scinto, Aggiano, De Angeli, Fontanelli, Marcus Zberg, Celestino and Carrara. That turned out to be the winning move after they got 5'50 lead at the 92nd kilometre.

The first time through the finish line at Castelvecchio Pascoli (km 110), the peloton had closed to within 3'34. The second time through the gap was 3'15, but they had given up by the third lap, allowing the 14 to get 6'44 advantage.

The finishing circuit contained the climb of Barga (410m), and this was where Fontanelli launched his winning move on the final lap. He was joined by Elio Aggiano (Mapei) and Rubens Bertogliati (Lampre), and these three riders were together with 1 km to go. Fontanelli attacked again to win the stage, while Aggiano and Bertogliati were caught by four riders, with Markus Zberg (Rabobank) winning the sprint for second from Saeco's Mirko Celestino.

Photography

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Fabiano Fontanelli (Mercatone Uno) wins the first stage of the Giro di Lucca
Fabiano Fontanelli (Mercatone Uno) kissed on the podium after winning the first stage of the Giro di Lucca

Results

1 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno      3.53.36
2 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                    0.02
3 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport
4 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
5 Richard Virenque (Fra) Domo-Farm Frites
6 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step            0.06
7 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre-Daikin         0.08
8 Andrea Peron (Ita) CSC-Tiscali
9 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta
10 Luca Scinto (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step            0.11

General classification after stage 1

1 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno      3.53.36
2 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                    0.04
3 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport      0.06
4 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo             0.07
5 Richard Virenque (Fra) Domo-Farm Frites
6 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step            0.11
7 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre-Daikin         0.13
8 Andrea Peron (Ita) CSC-Tiscali
9 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta
10 Luca Scinto (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step            0.16