Giro della Provincia di Siracusa/Giro dell'Etna, Cat 1.3

1998 Results     Past Winners Siracusa - Siracusa, 204 kms: Italian Alessandro Baronti ended a spell of bad luck when he won the Giro della Provincia di Siracusa on Sunday. On the previous Thursday he was hit by a motorcycle and on Saturday he fell at the Trophy Pantalica. But on Sunday he won convincingly from Marco Velo. Baronti was the most surprised by his win: "I guess having guts paid off, I don't know about the shape I was in when I started the race, I'm not a phenomenom, I just have the character". The race was docile until the 76 kms mark when the peloton approached the climb of Buccheri. Up until that time, the average speed was just 32 km/h. As the ascent started, Stefano Faustini was the spark that ignited the race. Within a short time he had 1.24 on the peloton and this prompted German Toby Steinhauser (Mapei-Quick Step), Figueras and Davide Rebellin to react and they formed a small group between Faustini and the peloton. Eventually, the efforts of the peloton closed the break down. On the descent the action became interesting. Frenchman Christophe Bassons attacked at Villa Bibbia (km 107) taking Dario Frigo and Stefano Garzelli with him. At Floridia (km 116), the trio had a maximum advantage of 2.55 on the peloton. They entered the final laps - the Siracusa circuit - comprising 3 by 19 km laps and the attacks started. At the end of the first of the 19 kms laps, Stefano Garzelli retired from the race for unknown reasons and Dario Frigo attempted to go off the front alone. Bassons retired at the end of the second-last lap hovering behind Frigo and a fast-finishing peloton. With 8 kms to go on the last lap, Frigo was caught by the peloton. At that point, Davide Rebellin and Figueras attacked with Baronti, Mazzanti, Coppolillo, Velo, Richard, Bouyer, Palumbo, Mazzoleni and Filippo Casagrande at 18 seconds. With 4 kms to go the two leaders were caught by the chasing group. 31-year old Baronti then recalls: "With 1500 meters to go I was pulling up front when Mazzanti opened a gap. Velo brought him back and with 500 meters to go, I joined and passed him". Marco Velo was angry: "If I would have waited 10 meters I would have won. I felt that I had good legs, but I was in a tough gear, for too long for this time of the year". Giuseppe Palumbo, third, was happy: "This is a gift for all my fans, they are great!" 1. Alessandro Baronti (Ita) Cantina Tollo 5.24.34 (37.712 km/h) 2. Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 3. Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Riso Scotti-Vinavil 4. Filippo Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola 5. Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Cantina Tollo 6. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 7. Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 8. Franck Bouyer (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 9. Michele Coppolillo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 10. Pascal Richard (Sch) Mobilvetta-Northwave 11. Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale s.t. 12. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 1.10 13. Fulvio Frigo (Ita) Selle Italia 14. Biagio Conte (Ita) Liquigas-Brescialat 15. Massimiliano Napoliatano (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 16. Yvon Ledanois (Fra) La Française des Jeux 17. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola 18. Marco Vergnani (Ita) Selle Italia 19. Anthony Morin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 20. Oscar Cavagnis (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 21. Marcello Siboni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 22. Bruno Boscardin (Swi) Post Swiss Team ... 24. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia ... 98. Renzo Ragnetti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 2.43 Started: 134 Finished: 98 Thanks to Alberto Milotti from Verona for the details Past Winners 1981 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita) 1982 Wladimiro Panizza (Ita) 1983 Giovanni Mantovani (Ita) 1984 Francesco Moser (Ita) 1985 Francesco Moser (Ita) 1986 Francesco Moser (Ita) 1987 Adriano Baffi (Ita) 1988 Paolo Cimini (Ita) 1989 Rolf Sörensen (Den) 1990 Adriano Baffi (Ita) 1991 Mario Cipollini (Ita) 1992 Stefano Colage (Ita) 1994 Stefano Zanini (Ita) 1995 Stefano Colage (Ita) 1996 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) 1997 Biagio Conte (Ita) 1998 Nicola Minali (Ita) Riso Scotti 184 kms in 4.40.10 (39.405 km/h) 1999 Alessandro Baronti (Ita) Cantina Tollo 204 kms in 5.24.34 (37.712 km/h) Mario from Berlin compiles the winner's lists