[Giro 2003]Stage 4 - Tip of the Toe

Giro Reporter race-report@cyclofiend.com
Thu, 15 May 2003 19:04:31 -0700


Stage 4 - Acquappesa-Marina - Vibo Valentia 170K

Well, one of my early favorites, Ric Verbrugghe has turned in his number
this morning.  After experiencing a crash on the final descents of Stage
3 while leading Robbie McEwen's attack, he is unable to continue due to
injuries.

Today is the last stage on the mainland before a few days on the isle of
Sicily. The first 100 K will remain fairly flat until a 600 meter climb
followed by a long descent to the finish.

Elio Aggiano (81) from my brother's favorite team, Formaggi Pinzolo
Fiave, Julian Usano Martinez (108) from Kelme, and Martin Hvastia (172)
from the Tenax squad take a flyer at the 1k mark, making them the
favorites of the peloton as they kick the speed up to 44km in the first
hour.  They keep their gap of about 3 minutes through the InterGiro spot
as the group begins to hack away at their lead under the pace of the
Domina Vacanze zebras and the not-quite-lava-Lampres.  Pretty quickly,
they bring the trio back to about the minute and a half mark with 50 odd
km to go.

The race continues to parrellel the coast, with beautiful white sand
beaches and spotlessly clear waves breaking upon them. The peloton
reaches out and grabs the trio suddenly and a flurry of counterattacks
hit with no effect. Then a couple riders pop off in advance of the day's
climb.

Selle italia suddenly has a number of riders up and away leading the
charge uphill, finding themselves the majority in a group of 7 or 8
riders who have a bit of daylight.

Piotr Chmielewski from the CCC Polsat squad lights out from that group
to gain the lead.  With the bright orange kit and bike, they look like
they've chosen the Euskatel-Euskadi colors.  They are however, mostly
Polish and Czech riders who have folded over from Mros squad. His
minutes are marked as the peloton keeps him within eyeshot.

Freddy Gonzalez from Selle Italia, who has serious plans for the KoM
jersey pips up to Chmielewski along with Carlos Quesada.  A number of
riders notch up their pace a touch and Charlie Wegelus latches on.
They'll crest this hill  - about a 16km climb - and the sprinters are
still in touch with the front.  It's a rather straight, exposed climb
and a number of the bigger boys are kicking up their cadence as they
drop gears and try to limit their losses. The long climb continues and
now Cipollini drifts backward in a small gear with a couple of
monitoring zebras.

At the front, Carlos Garcia Quesada has eased off the front and gained
about 10 or 11 seconds. Back among the 1st chase group quietly rides
Giovanni Lombardi, the main leadout man for Cipollini.  They hold a
small lead in front of a larger second group.

Garzelli rides easily within the second chase group, wearing the Points
Jersey even though he's in second in that competiton - Petacchi can only
wear the Maglia Rosa.

Now Sandy Casar from France de Juene hikes up his shorts and goes after
the leading Kelme rider, as the chasers begin to rise up, look around,
and figure out if they want to hurt themselves too much more. They move
into a town still about 4k from the actual summit, where the fans get a
longer-than-normal look at the suffering bunch.  Casar suffers his way
up to the leader and then cracks massively from the effort, as Garcia
Qusada punches it a bit to assert his authority. It's hard to see that
the road is still rises, but he finally goes over the KoM on this 3rd
category climb.  The regrouped peloton comes over at about 26 seconds
back, with the bigger boys coming over the KoM at about a minute fifteen.

Everyone except for the Domina Vacanza squad seem interested in sitting
on rather than taking a decent pull, so they engage in some colloguial
phrases and gesticulations to encourage some efforts. Another zebra
drops back for help and they form a solid lead group. Cipollini regains
the main field as the road pitches down and goes through another of the
narrow switchbacks that always populate the Giro.

At the front, Garcia Quesada gets pulled back in and theere is a group
of six who are trying for glory with about 25 km to go.

Breakaway Group:
97 Marcel Strauss - Gerolsteiner
123 Volodymyr Bileka - Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
103 Carlos Garcia Quesada - Kelme
74 Carlos Dacruz - FDJeux.com
82 Fortunato Balliani - Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave
104 Ignacio Guiterrez Cataluna - Kelme

But they seem to only have about 20 or so seconds, and Saeco kicks it at
the front to keep them within striking distance.  Fabio Sacchi of Saeco
decides to bridge, and fires away, meaning that some other sprinters
team will have to worry about bringing the group up to the bunch.

Robbie McEwen finds himself with a flat front wheel, snags a wheel from
a teammate and is back on the road quickly enough to attach himself to a
small group speeding back up to the peloton.

Oscar Poszzi of Tenex fires away as the Saeco rider gets caught.  The
roads are anything but flat, as the riders encounter a series of rises
as the road snakes through cactus and trees.  The last 5 km are supposed
to be dead flat, but right now, the undulations are causing mass
suffering. 15 km to go, still about 20 off the front.

Casagrande and Garzelli sit easily in behind suffering zebras as the
lead group manages to extend their lead to 30 seconds.  The two Kelme
riders raise the pace and splinter the lead group with Strauss from
Gerolsteiner.

Fassa Bortolo and Lampre spearhead the effort as they begin to pick up
the remnants of the break. The peloton is only one or two riders wide as
they begin to come into the outskirts of town.  The last 5 km may be
flat, but as soon as we hit the 10 km to go mark, the road pitched
upward, which lead to serious attacks from Freddy Gonzalez and a few
other climbers.  But, the sound of grinding knees and big rings begin to
echo behind them and they try to get back together as they find
themselves climbing again.  As the peloton zips under the (now flat) 5
km to go mark and immediately erase the lead group's gap, Cipollini has
pipped off the back of that group once more. He and his teammates try
all sorts of striped combinations to get back up to the leaders.  He's
running out of roadway, as the Fasso Bortolo riders continue to ramp up
the pace. It looks like the effort slowly seeps out of striped riders as
they realize the math.

Up front, the leaders are under the 1km to go banner.  Petacchi is up in
sixth place as leaders peel off.  Magnus Beckstedt of Fakta hammers to
try to get the gap, but Petacchi patiently waits for him to fade as they
all scream along at incredible speed. Petacchi can sense a win. But,
from a perch on his left shoulder, Robbie McEwen keeps finding extra
gears and nicks him by inches at the line.

Stage 4
1 - Robbie McEwan
2 - Allessandro Petacchi
3 - Bernhard Eisel (fdj)
4 - Giovanni Lombardi
5 - Magnus Beckstad

Overall Standings:
Maglia Rosa - Allessandro Petacchi - 17:37:21
2 - Stefano Garzelli - :29
3 - Francesco Casagrande - :39
4 - Gilberto Simoni - :44
4 - Gilberto Gasparre - :44
4 - Francesco Pellizotti - :44
7 - Bo Hamburger - :51
7 - Andrea Noe - :51



Tomorrow's Stage:
Messina - Catania
which includes a 1st category climb. If today was a tough one for Mario,
then tomorrow will truly cause some suffering.