3rd Giro della Provincia di Lucca - 2.3

Italy, October 2-5, 2001

Stage 2 - October 3: Altopascio-Capannori, 195 km

Wadecki wins stage and takes lead

Domo victory!
Photo: © Sirotti

Polish rider Piotr Wadecki (Domo-Farm Frites) has triumphed in the second stage of the Giro della Lucca, a 195 kilometre circuit race around Capannori. Wadecki was the fastest of a 10 man breakaway, out sprinting Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r) and Cristian Moreni (Mercatone Uno) to take the stage and the overall lead.

After short ride from Altopascio, the stage proceeded with six laps of a 29 kilometre circuit, containing the climb of Montecarlo each lap. It was after 60 kilometres (on the second lap) that the decisive break was formed, consisting of Faresin, Bossoni, Loder, Turpin, Guerra, Wadecki, Zerzan, Moreni, Ortenzi, Miorin, De Groot, Colleoni, and Grabsch. Danilo Di Luca (Cantina Tollo) didn't want to miss it, and caught them on the Montecarlo climb to make a group of 14.

The group increased to 16 after Bettini, Aerts and Sabaliauskas made the junction, while Guerra lost contact due to a dropped chain 3 km from the end of Lap 2. At this stage, they only had 39 seconds on the Fassa Bortolo led peloton, and were averaging 47-48 km/h per lap.

Several more riders lost contact, including Grabsch, as the gap increased to nearly 3 minutes with three laps (87 km) to go. Lampre-Daikin, Ag2r and Selle Italia began to help in the pursuit but it was to no avail, as the leading riders maintained their advantage until the end. It grew to over 14 minutes to the main peloton when they stopped chasing with 50 km to go.

An attack by Ortenzi, Bettini and Faresin on the climb came to nothing, and 10 men arrived in Capannori to contest the finish. Domo-Farm Frites rider Wadecki was too fast for the rest, surprisingly beating Paolo Bettini who managed fourth place.

Photos

Piotr Wadecki (Domo-Farm Frites) - strikes a stage victory for the Domo boys.
Piotr Wadecki - salutes as he takes stage 2.
Piotr Wadecki - lets the strain of the ten man sprint finish show.
Piotr Wadecki - shows that the podium makes the sprint all worth while.
Piotr Wadecki - with the podium girls. Even intimidating off the bike.

Results

1 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites                   4.32.24
2 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
3 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
4 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
5 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
6 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
7 Devis Miorin (Ita) Mobilvetta Design-Formaggi Trentini
8 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
9 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Acqua e Sapone
10 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
11 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) Saeco Macchine per Caffe        0.48
12 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
13 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank                              0.52
14 Pavel Zerzan (Slo) Mapei-Quick Step                       3.08
15 Michele Colleoni (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro

General classification after stage 2

1 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites                    8.24.19
2 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance                       0.02
3 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV              0.04
4 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                       0.05
5 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
6 Devis Miorin (Ita) Mobilvetta Design-Formaggi Trentini
7 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
8 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
9 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
10 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Acqua e Sapone
11 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV          0.53
12 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) Saeco Macchine per Caffe
13 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank                              0.57
14 Pavel Zerzan (Slo) Mapei-Quick Step                       3.13
15 Michele Colleoni (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro                 3.29