2002 Tirreno - Adriatico (HC)

March 14 - March 20, 2002

Podium history of Tirreno-Adriatico

Along with Paris-Nice, the other crucial major early season stage race is Tirreno-Adriatico. It starts this year just south of Naples, near Sorrento. It heads north and east ending at S. Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic Sea, north of Rome.

The great Roger de Vlaeminck won this race 6 times in a row in the '70s.

Here are the 23 Division One and 2 Division Two teams enetered, along with the principle contenders, in the judgement of La Gazzetta dello Sport

ACQUA SAPONE: Cipollini, Colombo
ALESSIO: Caucchioli, Leoni
ALEXIA: Quaranta, Savoldelli
PANARIA: Figueras, Degano
COFIDIS
CREDIT AGRICOLE: Langella
DOMO: Musseuw, Vainsteins
FASSA BORTOLO: Bartoli, Casagrande
GEROLSTEINER: Rebellin, Faresin
IBANESTO
KELME: Cabello, Navarrete
LAMPRE: Sciandri
LOTTO
MAPEI - QUICK STEP: Freire, Bettini
MERCATONE UNO: Sgambelluri, Borgheresi
MOBILVETTA: Di Biase, Traversoni
ONCE: Olano, Hruska
PHONAK: Camenzind, Strazzer
RABOBAN: Dekker, Boogerd
SAECO: Di Luca, Celestino
TACCONI: Bortolami, Donati
COAST: Casero, Plaza
CSC TISCALI: Sastre Candil, Van Bondt
TELEKOM
US POSTAL SERVICE: Hincapie, Mondini

Wednesday, March 20: 7th and final stage, San Benedetto del Tronto - San Benedetto del Tronto, 162 km. We're on the Adriatic coast now. The race rolls north up the Adriatic coast, then turns inland for a counter-clockwise loop to get a last taste of the hills of Le Marche. Then, a return back to San Benedetto for 6 circuits in the city.

1. Mario Cipollini (Aqua Sapone) 4hr 34min 38sec. 35.39 km/hr

2. Erik Zabel (Telekom) s.t.

3. Saulius Ruskys (Gerolsteiner) s.t.

4. Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) s.t.

5. Jan Svorada (Lampre) s.t.

Final GC after Stage 7:

1. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) 28hr 45min 24sec. 1049.7 km ridden at an average speed of 36.51 km/hr

2. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) @ 18sec

3. Oscar Freire (Mapei) @ 20sec

4. Paolo Bettini (Mapei) @ 23sec

5. Ruslan Ivanov (Alessio) @ 23sec

6. Guido Trentin (Cofidis) @ 24sec

7. Paolo Savoldelli (Index-Alexis) @ 29sec

8. Jan Hruska (ONCE) @ 30sec

9. Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) @ 32sec

10. Jorg Jaksche (ONCE) @ 36sec

11. Oskar Camenzind (Phonak) @ 38sec

12. Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) @ 48sec

13. Stefano Garzelli (Mapei) @ 55sec

14. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) @ 1min 1sec

15. Massimiliano Gentili (Acqua & Sapone) s.t.

16. Michael Boogerd (Rabobank @ 1min 5sec

17. Tomas Konecny (Domo-Farm Frites) s.t.

18. Saza Gajicic (Mobilvetta) @ 1min 35sec

19. Roberto Sgambulluri (Mercatone Uno) @ 1min 39sec

20. Enrico Cassani (Domo-Farm Frites) @ 1min 47sec

Tuesday, March 19: Stage 6, Rampagnano - Montegranaro, 208 km. I thought I knew something of the geography of Marche (The Marches, the region on the Adriatic south of Veneto), but I had a lot of trouble figuring out this route. It starts in the little town of Rampagnano, about the same latitude as Perugia, about 25 kilometers from the Adriatic coast. They head to the coast, turn north, and then turn inland at Civitanova Marche. Then they do a series of loops wandering in the Marche hills and end up in another little town, Montegranaro, only about 20 kilometers from where the race started. Should be a tough-guy race.

1. Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) 6hr 1min 36sec

2. Rinaldo Nocentini (Fassa Bortolo) s.t.

3. Paolo Bettini (Mapei) @ 2sec

4. Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) s.t.

5. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) s.t.

GC after Stage 6

1. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) 24hr 10min 46sec

2. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) @ 18sec

3. Oscar Freire (Mapei) @ 20sec

4. Ruslan Ivanov (Alessio) @ 23sec

5. Guido Trentin (Cofidis) @ 24sec

Monday, March 18: Stage 5, Rieti - Torricela Sicura, 150 km. This is a good day's work. The race cuts across the Gran Sasso Mountains. It finishes with two circuits between Teramo and the little town of Torricella Sicura. We're only about 25 kilometers from the Adriatic.

1. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) 3hr 39min 51sec

2. Erik Zabel (Telekom) s.t.

3. Giuliano Figueras (Panaria) s.t.

4. Massiliano Lelli (Cofidis) s.t.

5. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) s.t.

GC after Stage 5:

1. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) 18hr 9min 5sec

2. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) @ 22sec

3. Oscar Freire (Mapei) @ 23sec

4. Ruslan Ivanov (Alessio) @ 23sec

5. Guido Trentin (Cofidis) @ 24sec

Sunday, March 17: Stage 4, Rieti 12.7 km Individual Time Trial. Pretty flat, starts out at 387 meters elevation and ends at 405 m.

1. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) 15min 19sec

2. Ruslan Ivanov (Alessio) @ 12 hundredths of a second.

3. Floyd Landis (US Postal) @ 3sec

4. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (ONCE) @ 5sec

5. Ludo Dierckxsens (Lampre) @ 10sec

GC after stage 4:

1. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) 14hr 29min 14sec

2. Ruslan Ivanov (Alessio) @ 11sec

3. Oscar Freire (Mapei) @ 23sec

4. Guido Trentin (Cofidis) @ 24sec

5. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) @ 27sec

Saturday, March 16: Stage 3, Anagni - Rocca di Cambio, 180 km. The route starts a bit southeast of Rome and heads north through some hilly Appennine country. Although it looks like hard work the entire stage, it's after km 133 at Celano the roads show 7% to 12% grades. There's a hill-top finish at the 1433 meter high Rocca di Cambio.

1. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) 4hr 59min 37sec

2. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) @ 14sec

3. Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) @ 14sec

4. Paolo Savoldelli (Alexia) @ 16sec

5. Massimiliano Gentili (Aqua Sapone) @ 22sec

GC after Stage 3:

1. Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) 14hr 13min 38sec

2. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) @ 17sec

3. Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) @ 19sec

4. Paolo Bettini (Mapei) @ 21sec

5. Paolo Savoldelli (Alexia) @ 27sec

Friday, March 15: Stage 2, Sorrento - Frosinone, 213 km. They managed to make this trip quite flat, even though it is traveling through some very hilly country. It starts again on the Sorrento Peninsula, south of Naples. It winds northwest, curving around Vesuvius on the east side as it travels though Caserta and Cassino, moving inland to a probable sprint finish in Frosinone. 2 in a row for Zabel?

1. Paolo Bettini (Mapei) 5hr 58min 24sec

2. Erik Zabel (Telekom) @ 2sec

3. Endrio Leoni (Alessio) s.t.

4. Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) s.t.

5. Mauro Zanetti (Alexia) s.t.

GC after Stage 2

1. Erik Zabel (Telekom) 9hr 13min 55sec

2. Paolo Bettini (Mapei) @ 5sec

3. Oscar Freire (Mapei) @ 9sec

4. Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) @ 10sec

5. Guido Trenti (Aqua Sapone) @ 10sec

Thursday, March 14: Stage 1, Massa Lubrese - Sorrento, 124 km. This is a few laps around the Sorrento Peninsula, going up the 450 meter Pico S. Angelo 3 times. It's very beautiful here, but I'm sure the racers won't have their minds on the scenery.

1. Erik Zabel (Telekom) 3hr 15min 39sec

2. Giovanni Lombardi (Aqua Sapone) s.t.

3. Jan Svorada (Lampre) s.t.

4. Oscar Freire (Mapei) s.t.

5. Guido Trenti (Aqua Sapone) s.t.

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