40th Trofeo Laigueglia - 1.2

Italy, February 18, 2003

2002 Results Start List Past winners Map Results

Preview

By Jeff Jones

Until the GP Etruschi was elevated to UCI status a couple of years ago, the Trofeo Laigueglia was considered the first 'real' race on the Italian professional calendar. And in many ways it still is, gaining 1.2 status from the UCI this year. The 40th edition promises to be an excellent showdown between the Italian top guns, with last year's winner Danilo Di Luca (Saeco), Tour of Med winner Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), the rehired Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo), the returned from exile Raimondas Rumsas (Lampre) and Giuliano Figueras (Panaria), the in-form Fabio Baldato (Alessio), the experienced Gianluca Bortolami (Sidermec), competing along with a smattering of foreign pros. In total, there will be 26 teams at Laigueglia, with 197 riders down to start.

Saeco has a good record in this race in recent years, with Paolo Savoldelli winning it in '99, Mirko Celestino in 2001 and Danilo Di Luca last year. The team directed by Giuseppe Martinelli is looking to make it four out of five, with Gilberto Simoni, Mirko Celestino, Fabio Sacchi, Alessio Galletti, Leonardo Bertagnolli and new signings Stefano Zanini and Alexandre Shefer likely to be able to provide strong support for Di Luca.

The race is held over a tough 183.3 km parcours, starting and finishing in Laigueglia, passing twice over the Passo del Ginestro (677m) and once over the Passo Balestrino (690m). The latter comes at 32 km to go, and normally forces a selection of some sort.

Cyclingnews will be providing detailed coverage of this Italian opener, with European editor Tim Maloney present in Laigueglia to get all the action.

Startlist

Saeco Macchine Per Caffe’          Fassa Bortolo
 
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita)             11 Dario David Cioni (Ita)
2 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita)       12 Dario Frigo (Ita)
3 Mirko Celestino (Ita)            13 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr)
4 Alessio Galletti (Ita)           14 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda)
5 Fabio Sacchi (Ita)               15 Kim Kirchen (Lux)
6 Alexandr Shefer (Kaz)            16 Roberto Petito (Ita)
7 Gilberto Simoni (Ita)            17 Filippo Pozzato (Ita)
8 Stefano Zanini (Ita)             18 Matteo Tosatto (Ita)
9
 
Lampre                             Team Telekom
 
21 Sergio Barbero (Ita)            31 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger)
22 Wladimir Belli (Ita)            32 Danilo Hondo (Ger)
23 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita)     33 David Kopp (Ger)
24                                 34 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
25 Eddy Ratti (Ita)                35 Dirk Reichl (Ger)
26 Daniele Righi (Ita)             36 Stefan Schumacher (Ger)
27 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu)          37 Christian Werner (Ger)
28 Javier Vila Errandonea F. (Spa) 38 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz)
 
Lotto Domo                         US Postal Service Presented By Berry Floor
 
41 Christophe Brandt (Bel)         51 Antonio Cruz (USA)
42 Christophe Detilloux (Bel)      52 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)
43 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel)             53 Benoit Joachim (Lux)
44 Koos Moerenhout (Ned)           54 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor)
45 Leif Hoste (Bel)                55
46 Kevin Van Impe (Bel)            56 Pavel Padrnos (Cze)
47 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel)            57 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned)
48 Aart Verhouten (Ned)            58 Matthew White (Aus)
 
Domina Vacanze-Elitron             Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
 
61 Claudio Astolfi (Ita)           71 Peter Farazijn (Bel)
62 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita)        72 Daniel Atienza Urendez (Spa)
63 Martin Dercanc (Slo)            73 Philippe Gaumont (Fra)
64 Massimo Giunti (Ita)            74 Nico Mattan (Bel)
65 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus)         75 Chris Peers (Bel)
66 Francesco Secchiari (Ita)       76
67 Kyrylo Pospeyev (Ukr)           77 Janek Tombak (Est)
68 Michele Scarponi (Ita)          78 Cédric Vasseur (Fra)
 
Quick Step-Davitamon               Team fakta
 
81 Paolo Bettini (Ita)             91 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor)
82 Davide Bramati (Ita)            92 René Jorgensen (Den)
83 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz)         93 Allan  Johansen (Den)
84 Domenico Passuello (Ita)        94 Jorge Bo Petersen (Den)
85 Nick Nuyens (Bel)               95 Frederik Modin (Swe)
86 Michael Rogers (Aus)            96 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut)
87 Bram Tankink (Ned)              97 Scott  Sunderland (Aus)
88 Piotr Wadecki (Pol)             98 Michael Skelde (Den)
 
Alessio                            Sidermec
 
101 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita)     111 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)
102 Andrea Brognara (Ita)          112 Bossoni  Bossoni (Ita)
103 Fabio Baldato (Ita)            113 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita)
104 Vladimir Miholyevic (Cro)      114 David  De La Fuente (Spa)
105 Franco Pellizotti (Ita)        115 Marco Milesi (Ita)
106 Davide Frattini (Ita)          116 Mauro Radaelli (Ita)
107 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita)         117 Romans Vainsteins (Lat)
108 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita)          118 Steve Zampieri (Swi)
 
De Nardi-Colpack                   FDJeux.com
 
121 Matteo Carrara (Ita)           131 Sandy Casar (Fra)
122 Michele Colleoni (Ita)         132 Baden Cooke (Aus)
123 Ondrej Fadrny (Cze)            133
124 Graziano Gasparre (Ita)        134 Philippe Gilbert (Bel)
125 Michele Gobbi (Ita)            135 Christophe Mengin (Fra)
126 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita)         136 Mickael Pichon (Fra)
127 Andrea Rossi (Ita)             137 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra)
128 Leonardo Zanotti (Ita)         138 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra)
 
Gerolsteiner                       Tenax
 
141 Gianni Faresin (Ita)           151 Ramon Bianchi (Ita)
142 Robert Förster (Ger)           152 Gianluca Dal Cin (Ita)
143 Ellis Rastelli (Ita)           153 Martin Hvastija  (Slo)
144 Marcel Strauss (Swi)           154 Zoran Klemencic (Slo)
145 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut)        155 Markus Knopfle (Swi)
146 Fabian Wegmann (Ger)           156 Mirko Marini (Ita)
                                   157 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita)
                                   158 Oscar Pozzi (Swi)
 
Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave-Ciarrocchi  Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo
 
161 Elio Aggiano (Ita)             171 Claudio Bartoli (Ita)
162 Matteo Cappe’ (Ita)
163 Massimiliano Mori (Ita)        173 Scott Davis (Aus)
164 Giuseppe Muraglia (Rus)        174 Giuliano Figueras (Ita)
165 Uros Murn (Slo)                175 Fabio Gilioli (Ita)
166 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita)        176 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita)
167 Antonio Rizzi (Ita)            177 Luca Mazzanti (Ita)
168 Markus Wimmer (Aut)            178 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita)
 
Amore & Vita-Beretta               Colombia-Selle Italia
 
181 Giacomo Battistel (Ita)        191 Hernan Dario Munoz (Col)
182 Jamie Burrow (GBr)             192 Gonzalez Martinez F. E. (Col)
183 Ivan  Fanelli (Ita)            193 Ruber Alveiro Marin (Col)
184 Kjell Carlstrom (Fin)          194 Rodolfo Massi (Ita)
185 Mteusz Mroz (Pol)              195 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr)
186 Przemyslaw Niemec (Pol)        196 Jose Rujano (Col)
187 Marek Wesoly (Pol)             197 Raffaele Illiano (Ita)
                                   198 Josè Castelblanco Rom. (Col)
 
Vlaanderen-T Interim               Team Scanavino
 
201 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel)        211 Francesco Bellotti (Ita)
202 Jef Peeters (Bel)              212 Ruggero Borghi (Ita)
203 Jehudi Schoonacker (Bel)       213 Massimo Codol (Ita)
204 Nico Sijmens (Bel)             214 Mario Manzoni (Ita)
205 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel)      215 Andrea Moletta (Ita)
206 Wim Van Huffel (Bel)           216 Eddy Serri (Ita)
207 Frederik Willems (Bel)         217 Luca Solari (Ita)
                                   218 Ivan Ravaioli (Ita)
 
CCC Atlas-Polsat                   Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf
 
221 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol)            231 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat)
222 Marek Galinski (Pol)           232 Dave Bruylandts (Bel)
223 Seweryn Kohut (Pol)            233 Johan Dekkers (Bel)
224 Slawomir Kohut (Pol)           234 Charles Guilbert (Bel)
225 Lukasz Podolski (Pol)          235 Christophe Stevens (Bel)
226 Marc Weisshaupt (Ger)          236 Christian Poos (Lux)
227 Piotek Chmielewski (Pol)       237 Geert Verheyen (Bel)
 
Landbouwkrediet-Colnago            Navigators Cycling Team
 
241 Bert De Waele (Bel)            251 Christopher Baldwin (USA)
242 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr)           252 Siro Camponogara (Ita)
243 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita)         253 Glen Mitchell (NZl)
244 Johan Verstrepen (Bel)         254 Oleg Grishkine (Rus)
245 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel)         255 Burke Swindlehurst (USA)
246 Vladimir Duma (Ukr)            256 Jeff Louder (USA)
247 Claudio Lucchini (Ita)         257 Henk Vogels (Aus)
248 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)        258 Mark Walters (Can)

Past winners

2002 Danilo Di Luca (Ita)      
2001 Mirko Celestino (Ita)
2000 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
1999 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita)
1998 Pascal Chanteur (Fra)
1997 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
1996 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel)
1995 Johan Museeuw (Bel)
1994 Rolf Soerensen (Den)
1993 Lance Armstrong (USA)
1992 Sammy Moreels (Bel)
1991 Pascal Richard (Swi)


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