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75th Giro del Veneto - 1.1
Italy, August 23, 2003
2002 Results Results Past winners
Moreni's major move takes Veneto Victory
Bartoli beat back again
By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Padova
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With a dramatic final surge in the last 25 meters alongside Padova's statue studded Prato delle Valle piazza to beat Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) by half a wheel, Cristian Moreni (Alessio) crowned a great week of racing with his second win of the season and his fifth career victory in the 75th Giro del Veneto. The 31 year old journeyman pro from Asola, Italy, who turned professional at 25, had a bad crash on Stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia and was forced to abandon with a broken collarbone. Moreni has had great legs all August, winning Stage 1 of the Regio Tour earlier this month and was very aggressive in the Trittico Lombardo all week. Today, at the conclusion of a hard-fought finale, Moreni broke through in the Giro del Veneto, beating most of Italy's top one day riders.
"After my crash in the Giro, I wanted to come back strongly for the second part of the season," said Moreni post race. "I've been thinking about this race all week, since our sponsor (wheel mfr. Alessio) is near here, so I have to thank the team today and I'm really happy."
Alessio and the other "local" Veneto team Fassa Bortolo from Treviso battled all day across the roads of northeast Italy, but in the final, Moreni confirmed his great form to beat Bartoli, who has been desperately seeking his second victory of the season.
With his win, Moreni may have gained a berth in the "squadra azzura" Italian national team for the World Championships in Hamilton, Canada in October. "For me, to ride for Italy would be a dream....if I am selected, I'll give it everything and I hope I make it on to the list of (Italian national team selector) Ballerini."
As for Bartoli, he gave it a great shot in Padova, but the Tuscan classics man had just joined the break in the last kilometre after a hard chase. "I just missed the win, since I just came up to the break when the sprint had already started, but my condition is improving and I hope to be at my best in a few weeks."
How it unfolded
On a hot, sunny late August Saturday morning at 10:45, riders from 15 teams took the start of the 75th edition of Giro del Veneto in the centre of Padova. The first half of the Veneto race is called the GP della Pedemontana Vicentino; the first 40km from Padova are flat, then the percorso continues to climb steadily from Breganze (110m) up to Velo d'Astico (346m) at the foot of the Altopiano di Asiago after 70km. Then the road descends along the speedy strada di Caltrano through the vineyards of Breganze and back across the flat farmland to Vicenza after 120km.
South of Vicenza on the way back to Padova loom the tough hills of the Colle Berici and Colle Euganei, which usually decides the Giro del Veneto. There are two KOM in the last 80km; after Vicenza, the road climbs up across the Colle Berici to S.Gottardo (408m) after 140km, then descends down to Lovolo (19m) at the foot of the Colle Euganei with 39km to race. Ahead are the steep, tough climbs up to Castelnuovo (310m) and then Roccolo, a 2km climb at 12% (400m) with 26km to go. With one small, steep climb of Valico Turri with 15km to go, the winner of the tough 75th edition of Giro del Veneto really had to ride to earn the winners bouquet in Prato delle Valle in Padova.
After a fast start, the first break got away after 24km in Carmignano di Brenta when Sandro Bertolini (Alessio) attacked near his sponsor's factory. He was joined by Italian TT champ Mondini (Domina Vacanze), Perfetto (Panaria), Petito (Fassa Bortolo), Muraglia (Formaggio Pinzolo Fiave'), Scheirlinckx (Flanders-Iteam Nova), Rast (Phonak), D'Amore (Tenax) and Andriotto (Vini Caldirola).
The break had 1'00 on a chasing group and 2'25" on the S.Gottardo GPM with 60km to go and Bertolini was keeping things alive with his attacking. Bertolini was joined by Petito up front and both got away for good before Castelnuovo, where the chasing group came across to the front duo.
Using a 39x25 on the steep climb of Castelnuovo, Bertolini and Petito were caught by chasers Casagrande, Camenzind, Hvastija, Andrea "baby face" Masciarelli, DiLuca, Rebellin, Basso and the Giro del Veneto started to take shape. Coppa Agostoni winner Casagrande tried hard to break the race wide open on Castelnuovo, but on the steep final climb of Valico Roccolo, lined with thousands of tifosi, DiLuca (Saeco) attacked hard to counter Casagrande. The Saeco man crested the Roccolo climb with 26km to go ahead of Casagrande, Bertolini, Camenzind and Gentili (Domina Vacanze).
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On the final ascent of the short, steep Valico Turri with 15km to race, six riders were on the attack; DiLuca, Casagrande, Rebellin, Basso, Bertolini and Camenzind, with a 10 man group including Moreni, Bartoli and Andrea Masciarelli just 15" behind. After a regrouping on the descent of Valico Turri, 15 riders were up front on the hot, humid afternoon.
In the exciting final run on the flat roads into Padova, 21 year old climber Andrea Masciarelli (Vini Caldirola) made a surprising attack at 8km. The baby faced climbing specialist from Abruzzo got a good gap of 15", but was eventually caught by a determined Di Luca and Moreni with 5km to go. This trio kept it's gap until 3km to go, until Camenzind came across with Hvastija and Basso and then there were six away with 2km to race as the walls of Padova approached.
Impatient Hvastija attacked with 1.5km to go, but Basso was too strong and pulled him back. Suddenly, Bartoli came across in the final kilometre with Gentili. Basso went to the front to lead out Bartoli and the Fassa Bortolo boys looked good until Moreni came by Bartoli in the last meters to win the 75th Giro del Veneto in great style.
Photography
Images by Fotoreporter Sirotti
- Cristian Moreni (Alessio) beats Bartoli and Di Luca to win the 75ht Giro del Veneto
- Moreni celebrates, while Bartoli has to be content with second place
- Cristian Moreni (Alessio) with his trophy on the podium
- Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) and race winner Cristian Moreni (Alessio) shake hands on the podium after the Giro del Veneto
- Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) came within half a wheel of winning the Giro del Veneto
- Giro del Veneto podium (L to R): Michele Bartoli (2nd), Cristian Moreni (1st) and Danilo Di Luca (3rd)
Results - 199km
1 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 4.56.56 2 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 4 Oskar Camenzind (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 5 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 7 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-SO.DI 8 Martin Hvastija (Slo) Tenax 0.01 9 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 0.34 10 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Vini Caldirola-SO.DI 11 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 12 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 13 Andrea Noe’ (Ita) Alessio 14 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 15 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 16 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio 0.50 17 Arkadius Wojtas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 18 Uros Murn (Slo) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave 19 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 20 Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Tenax 21 Vincent Cali (Fra) Flanders-IteamNova.com 22 Marco Fertonani (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 23 Michele Gobbi (Ita) De Nardi-Colpack 1.02 24 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 25 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 26 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 27 Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 28 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Scanavino 2.12 29 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Flanders-IteamNova.com 30 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 31 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 32 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 33 Massimo Cigana (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Scanavino 34 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 35 Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 36 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 37 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 38 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 39 Mauro Facci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 40 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 41 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 42 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 43 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 44 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Flanders-IteamNova.com 5.00 45 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Vini Caldirola-SO.DI 46 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) CCC-Polsat 47 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Gerolsteiner 48 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 49 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Alessio 50 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave 51 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 52 Antonio Rizzi (Ita) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave 53 Michele Colleoni (Ita) De Nardi-Colpack 54 Grégory Rast (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 55 Laurent Dufaux (Ita) Alessio 56 Devis Miorin (Ita) De Nardi-Colpack 57 Denis Lunghi (Ita) Alessio 58 Marcus Knopfle (Ger) Tenax 11.00 59 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 60 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Mercatone Uno-Scanavino 61 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Tenax 62 Leonardo Zanotti (Ita) De Nardi-Colpack 63 Bo Hamburger (Den) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave 64 Marc Weisshaupt (Ger) CCC-Polsat 65 Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 66 Eddy Ratti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 67 Alberto Alejandro Borrajo (Aus) CCC-Polsat 68 Cristiano Frattini (Ita) Tenax 69 Andrea Moletta (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Scanavino 70 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 71 Crescenzo D’Amore (Ita) Tenax Starters: 117 Classified: 71
Past winners
The first edition of this race was in 1909. There was no race in the years 1910-11, 1913-21, 1929, 1932-33, 1937, 1940, 1943-44, 1946, and 1997.
2002 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 2001 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 2000 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 1999 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 1998 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 1997 no event 1996 Michele Bartoli (Ita) 1995 Flavio Vanzella (Ita) 1994 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) 1993 Maximilian Sciandri (Ita) 1992 Massimo Ghirotto (Ita) 1991 Roberto Pagnin (Ita) 1990 Massimo Ghirotto (Ita) 1989 Roberto Pagnin (Ita) 1988 Moreno Argentin (Ita) 1987 Gerhard Zadrobilek (Aut) 1986 Maurizio Rossi (Ita) 1985 Claudio Corti (Ita) 1984 Moreno Argentin (Ita) 1983 Jesper Worre (Den) 1982 Pierino Gavazzi (Ita) 1981 Giovanni Mantovani (Ita) 1980 Carmelo Barone (Ita) 1979 Francesco Moser (Ita) 1978 Valerio Lualdi (Ita) 1977 Giuseppe Saronni (Ita) 1976 Alfio Vandi (Ita) 1975 Roland Salm (Swi) 1974 Roger De Vlaeminck (Bel) 1973 Franco Bitosssi (Ita) 1972 Enrico Paolini (Ita) 1971 Giancarlo Polidori (Ita) 1970 Franco Bitossi (Ita) 1969 Mino Denti (Ita) 1968 Alberto Della-Torre (Ita) 1967 Luciano Galbo (Ita) 1966 Michele Dancelli (Ita) 1965 Michele Dancelli (Ita) 1964 Italo Zilioli (Ita) 1963 Italo Zilioli (Ita) 1962 Angelino Soler (Spa) 1961 Nino Defilippis (Ita) 1960 Diego Ronchini (Ita) 1959 Rino Benedetti (Ita) 1958 Adriano Zamboni (Ita) 1957 Angelo Conterno (Ita) 1956 Giorgio Albani (Ita) 1955 Adolfo Grosso (Ita) 1954 Luciano Maggini (Ita) 1953 Fiorenzo Magni (Ita) 1952 Adolfo Grosso (Ita) 1951 Antonio Bevilacqua (Ita) 1950 Luigi Casola (Ita) 1949 Fausto Coppi (Ita) 1948 Luciano Maggini (Ita) 1947 Fausto Coppi (Ita) 1945 Luigi Casola (Ita) 1942 Pierino Favalli (Ita) 1941 Fausto Coppi (Ita) 1939 Adolfo Leoni (Ita) 1938 Secondo Magni (Ita) 1936 Renato Scorticati (Ita) 1935 Vasco Bergamaschi (Ita) 1934 Aldo Canazza (Ita) 1931 Aldo Canazza (Ita) 1930 Aldo Canazza (Ita) 1928 Alfredo Binda (Ita) 1927 Alfonso Piccin (Ita) 1926 Costante Girardengo (Ita) 1925 Costante Girardengo (Ita) 1924 Costante Girardengo (Ita) 1923 Costante Girardengo (Ita) 1922 Alfredo Sivocci (Ita) 1912 Giovanni Roncon (Ita) 1911 no event 1910 no event 1909 Pogliani (Ita) Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
