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61st Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana - 2.3

Spain, February 25-March 1, 2003

2002 Results     Stage List    Preview     Start List     Past winners

The Stages

  • Stage 1 - February 25: San Vicent Del Raspeig ITT, 9.7 km
  • Stage 2 - February 26: (Xorret del Catí) Castalla - Vila-Joiosa, 159.7 km
  • Stage 3 - February 27: Onda - Port De Sagunt, 157.6 km
  • Stage 4 - February 28: Sagunt - Alto Del Campello (Vallada), 158.2 km
  • Stage 5 - March 1: Valencia - Valencia, 165 km

Preview

Taking place between Tuesday, February 25 and Saturday, March 1 is the 61st edition of the Spanish stage race, Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana. Given a fairly modest 2.3 ranking by the UCI, the Vuelta Valenciana has a long tradition, first being run in 1929 in November. It moved to its present dates in February/March in 1956, and has since become an important part of the early season race program.

The five stage race starts with a 9.7 kilometre individual time trial in San Vicent Del Raspeig, and this will define the classification for the stages to come. The second stage from (Xorret del Catí) Castalla to Vila-Joiosa is a mountainous 160 km journey, containing the Cat. 1 climbs of Alto de Tudons (at 42 and 126 km) and the Cat. 2 climb of Alto de Confrides (at 112 km). There is quite a long descent into Vila-Joiosa after the second climb of Alto de Tudons, but the sprinters will certainly have to have their good climbing legs on today make it to the finish in front.

Stage 3 from Onda to Port De Sagunt again contains a Cat. 1 climb with 34 km to go, this time it's the Alto del Garbí (5.3 km at approx. 8% with some sections of 14%). If that wasn't enough to shake the morale of the sprinters, the fourth stage from Sagunt to Alto Del Campello finishes on a climb, the main part of which is 5 km long and averages 6.6%, with some 14% sections.

The final stage is a not so hilly 165 kilometres around Valencia, with two Cat. 2 climbs to break the monotony. If they haven't already, the sprinters will be able to shine in this stage.

GC Riders to watch include last year's winner Alex Zülle (Team Coast), Danilo Di Luca (Saeco), Richard Virenque (Quick Step), Pedro Cardoso (Milaneza), Javier Pascual Llorente (Kelme), Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo), Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE), Michael Boogerd (Rabobank). For the sprinters, Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze), Erik Zabel (Telekom), Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), and Angel Edo (Milaneza) should all be prominent.

Start list

Team Coast                           iBanesto.com
 
1 Alex Zuelle (Swi)                  11 Jose Antonio Lopez (Spa)
2 Daniel Becke (Ger)                 12 Ruben Plaza (Spa)
3 Angel Luis Casero (Spa)            13 Evgeni Petrov (Rus)
4 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita)               14 Jon Odriozola (Spa)
5 Luis Perez (Spa)                   15 Rafael Mateos (Spa)
6 Thomas Liese (Ger)                 16 Vladimir Karpets (Rus)
7 Raphael Schweda (Ger)              17 Eladio Jimenez (Spa)
8 Aitor Garmendia (Spa)              18 Javier Pascal Rodriguez (Spa)
 
Euskaltel-Euskadi                    Kelme-Costa Blanca
 
21 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa)             31 Constantino Zaballa (Spa)
22 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa)         32 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa)
23 Egoi Martinez (Spa)               33 Javier Pas.Llorente (Spa)
24 Iñigo Landaluze (Spa)             34 Ivan Ramiro Parra (Col)
25 Roberto Laiseka (Spa)             35 David Latasa (Spa)
26 Gorka Gonzalez (Spa)              36 Juan Miguel Cuenca (Spa)
27 Julen Fernandez (Spa)             37 David Muñoz (Spa)
28 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa)          38 Francisco Cabello (Spa)
 
Labarca 2-Cafe Baque                 ONCE-Eroski
 
41 Ricardo Serrano (Spa)             51 Angel Vicioso (Spa)
42 Gustavo Miguel Otero (Spa)        52 Jorg Jaksche (Ger)
43 Aitor Kintana (Spa)               53 Jan Hruska (Cze)
44 Ivan Herrero (Spa)                54 Alvaro Gonzalez (Spa)
45 Jose Javier Gomez (Spa)           55 Xavier Florencio (Spa)
46 Leandro Navarrete (Spa)           56 Rafael Diaz (Spa)
47 Francisco Palacios (Spa)          57 Alberto Contador (Spa)
48 Francisco J. Cerezo (Spa)         58 Rene Andrle (Cze)
 
Paternina-Costa Almeria              Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada
 
61 Gustavo M. Toledo (Arg)           71 Jose Manuel Vazquez (Spa)
62 Dermot Nally (Irl)                72 German Nieto (Spa)
63 Joaquim Lopez (Spa)               73 Jose Manuel Maestre (Spa)
64 Jose Antonio Garrido (Spa)        74 Oscar Laguna (Spa)
65 Jose Luis Martinez (Spa)          75 Jose Miguel Elias (Spa)
66 Jorge Ferrio (Spa)                76 Antonio Colom (Spa)
67 Pedro Diaz Lobato (Spa)           77 Nacor Burgos (Spa)
68 Rafael Casero (Spa)               78 Hector Guerra (Spa)
 
Milaneza-MSS                         Cofidis
 
81 David Bernabeu (Spa)              91 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa)
82 Carlos Carneiro (Por)             92 Bingen Fernandez (Spa)
83 Angel Edo (Spa)                   93 Robert Hayles (GBr)
84 Joan Horrach (Spa)                94 Andre Kivilev (Kaz)
85 Rui Lavarinhas (Por)              95 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita)
86 Lizuarte Martins (Por)            96 Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita)
87 Francisco Perez (Spa)             97 David Millar (GBr)
88 Rui Miguel Sousa (Por)            98 Guido Trentin (Ita)
 
Telekom                              Domina Vacanze-Elitron
 
101 Mario Aerts (Bel)                111 Mario Cipollini (Ita)
102 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita)        112 Gabriele Colombo (Ita)
103 Danilo Hondo (Ger)               113 Daniele Bennati (Ita)
104 Bobby Julich (USA)               114 Santos Gonzalez (Spa)
105 Matthias Kessler (Ger)           115 Giovanni Lombardi (Ita)
106 Andreas Kloden (Ger)             116 M. Martin Perdiguero (Spa)
107 Cadel Evans (Aus)                117 Alberto Ongarato (Ita)
108 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)       118 Mario Scirea (Ita)
 
Fassa Bartolo                        Rabobank
 
121 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita)           131 Michael Boogerd (Ned)
122 Juan Jose De Los Angeles (Spa)   132 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned)
123 Dario Frigo (Ita)                133 Bram De Groot (Ned)
124 Sven Montgomery (Swi)            134 Grischa Niermann (Ger)
125 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita)        135 Addy Engels (Ned)
126 Matteo Tosatto (Ita)             136 Marc Lotz (Ned)
127 Guido Trenti (USA)               137 Michael Rasmussen (Den)
128 Marco Velo (Ita)                 138 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned)
 
Saeco                                Phonak Hearing Systems
 
141 Danilo Di Luca (Ita)             151 Alexandre Moos (Swi)
142 Igor Astarloa (Spa)              152 Iker Camaño (Spa)
143 Salvatore Commesso (Ita)         153 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa)
144 Damiano Cunego (Ita)             154 Benot Salmon (Fra)
145 Juan Fuentes (Spa)               155 Massimo Strazzer (Ita)
146 Gerrit Glomser (Aut)             156 Marco Fertonani (Ita)
147 Ivan Quaranta (Ita)              157 Bert Grabsch (Ger)
148 Alexandr Shefer (Kaz)            158 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger)
 
Quick Step-Davitamon
 
161 David Cañada (Spa)
162 Domenico Passuello (Ita)
163 Bram Tankink (Ned)
164 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger)
165 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel)
166 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel)
167 Richard Virenque (Fra)
168 Piotr Wadecki (Pol)

Past winners

2002  Alex Zuelle (Swi) Team Coast
2001  Fabian Jeker (Swi) Maia-MSS
2000  Abraham Olano (Spa)
1999  Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz)
1998  Pascal Chanteur (Fra)
1997  Juan-Carlos Dominguez (Spa)
1996  Laurent Jalabert (Fra)
1995  Alex Zülle (Swi)
1994  Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)
1993  Julian Gorospe (Spa)
1992  Melchor Mauri (Spa)
1991  Melchor Mauri (Spa)
1990  Tom Cordes (Ned)
1989  Pello Ruiz-Cabestany (Spa)
1988  Erich Maechler (Swi)
1987  Stephen Roche (Ire)
1986  Bernard Hinault (Fra)
1985  Jesus Blanco-Villar (Spa)
1984  Bruno Cornillet (Fra)
1983  Raimund Dietzen (Ger)
1982  Pedro Munoz (Spa)
1981  Alberto Fernandez (Spa)
1980  Klaus-Peter Thaler (Ger)
1979  Vicente Belda (Spa)
1977  Bernt Johansson (Swe)
1976  Enrique Aja (Spa)
1975  Vicente Lopez-Carill (Spa)
1974  Marcello Bergamo (Ita)
1973  José-A Gonzales-Linares (Spa)
1972  Domingo Perurena (Spa)
1971  José Lopez-Rodriguez (Spa)
1970  Ventura Diaz (Spa)
1969  Eddy Merckx (Spa)
1968  Mariano Diaz (Spa)
1967  José Perez-Frances (Spa)
1966  Angelino Soler (Spa)
1965  José Perez-Frances (Spa)
1964  Antonio Gomez del Moral (Spa)
1963  Martin Colmenarejo (Spa)
1962  Fernando Manzaneque (Spa)
1961  Salvador Botella (Spa)
1960  Fernando Manzaneque (Spa)
1959  Rik Van Looy (Bel)
1958  Hilaire Couvreur (Bel)
1957  Bernardo Ruiz (Spa)
1956  René Marigil (Spa)
1955  Francisco Masip (Spa)
1954  Salvador Botella (Spa)
1949  Joaquim Filba (Spa)
1948  Emilio Rodriguez (Spa)
1947  Joaquim Olmos (Spa)
1944  Antonio Martin (Fra)
1943  Antonio-A Sancho (Spa)
1942  Julian Berrendero (Spa)
1940  Federico Ezquerra (Spa)
1933  Antonio Escuriet (Spa)
1932  Ricardo Montero (Spa)
1931  Federico Ezquerra (Spa)
1930  Mariano Canardo (Spa)
1929  Salvador Cardona (Spa)
 
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com