28th Trofeo Pantalica - 1.3

Italy, March 9, 2003

2002 Results Results Past winners

Perdiguero wins Trofeo Pantalica

Domina Vacanze's Miguel Martin Perdiguero has won the 28th edition of the Trofeo Pantalica, beating Enrico Cassani (Alessio) and Giuliano Figueras (Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo) in a group sprint. Perdiguero thus recorded his second season win, and is proving to be a more than handy co-leader for the team which is built around Mario Cipollini.

The 176 km race was disputed over two laps of a tough course around Solarino and Florida, containing the climbs of Bivio Raccolta (779m), Cant. SS 124 (629m), and several other smaller hills. The race was animated by Elio Aggiano (Formaggi Pinzolo Fiavè), who attacked at the start and built a lead of 8'12 in the first 21 kilometres. However that was as much as he got, as Enrico Cassani and Andrea Noè (both Alessio) set off in pursuit.

By kilometre 40, the chasing pair had closed to within 5'00 of Aggiano, with the peloton another 34 seconds back. Cassani and Noè reached the leader in Sortino (km 64), to form a trio at the head of the race 3'15 in front of the peloton, which was led by Sidermec. The break could not get more than this however, and its lead gradually shrank under the pressure from behind.

On the climb of Villa Bibbia, a group of seven riders set off in pursuit of the leading three: Tiralongo, Wegelius, Gryschenko, Szmyd, Bertagnolli, Mason and Jones. At Canicattini Bagni (km 100), the trio had 1'47 on the chasers, and 2'15 to the peloton, and eight kilometres later the two leading groups joined to form a 10 man break.

The next climb of Cassaro proved to be too much for Aggiano, Wegelius, Gryschenko and Noè, all of whom dropped out of the leading group, leaving just seven in front, as Michele Scarponi (Domina Vacanze) had bridged up during this time. At Ferla (km 128), the seven leaders were caught by the front half of the peloton, forming a group of 25 in front: Cassani, Ferrara, Marzoli, Figueras, Mazzanti, Tiralongo, Davis, Gasparre, Palumbo, Martin Perdiguero, Scarponi, Basso, Valjavec, Nocentini, Hamburger, Barbero, Righi, Duma, Popovych, Szmyd, Bertagnolli, Mason, Pietropolli, Burrow and Jones.

This was the decisive selection, gaining a minute on the chasers with 30 km to go, which turned into 11 minutes by the finish. Attacks by Righi, Burrow and Marzoli were all negated over the next 20 kilometres, although a dangerous move by Yaroslav Popovych (Landbouwkrediet) saw him get away with 8 kilometres to go. However the former U23 World Champion was caught with just 4 km left, and the race was set to end in a bunch sprint.

A fall with 150 metres to go resulted in some of the time gaps at the finish being bigger than they should have, however there were no serious injuries. Miguel Martin Perdiguero showed his strength in the sprint and clearly won ahead of Enrico Cassani and Giuliano Figueras.

"I am currently going through a good phase physically," said the 30 year old Perdiguero. "It was a difficult race because the rain made the roads slippery. In the last 30 kilometres Scarponi did some really great work for me; in the sprint I immediately took the front and clearly beat Cassani and Figueras. I think that my condition is still not 100 percent: I'm aiming to win a round of the World Cup and race in the tour de France.

Results - 174 km

1 Miguel A. Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 4.33.53 (38.12 km/h)
2 Enrico Cassani (Ita) Alessio
3 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo
4 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) De Nardi-Colpack
5 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
6 Oscar Mason (Ita) Sidermec
7 Raffaele Ferrara (Ita) Alessio
8 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre                                  0.01
9 Bo Hamburger (Den) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave'
10 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Alessio
11 Graziano Gasparre (Ita) De Nardi-Colpack
12 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta
13 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo               0.04
14 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago            0.07
15 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Team Scanavino                       0.08
16 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
17 Scott Davis (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo                 0.17
18 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo             0.38
19 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo
20 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre                                0.44
21 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Tenax                            0.55
22 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Team Saeco                      1.04
23 Timothy Jones (Zim) Amore & Vita-Beretta
24 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron              1.12
25 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave'
26 Biagio Conte (Ita) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave'                11.17
27 Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Tenax
28 Cristiano Frattini (Ita) Tenax
29 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Sidermec
30 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
31 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
32 Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
33 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
34 Marco Milesi (Ita) Sidermec
35 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo
36 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre
37 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Sidermec
38 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre
39 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Sidermec
40 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo
41 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Team Saeco
42 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave'
43 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
44 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio
45 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Alessio
46 Andrea Tonti (Ita) Team Saeco
47 Raffaele Illiano (Ita) Colombia-Selle Italia
48 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre
49 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave'
50 Massimo Codol (Ita) Team Scanavino
51 Alexandre Shefer (Kaz) Team Saeco
52 Vincenzo Di Falco (Ita) Team Scanavino
53 Vladimir Miholievic (Cro) Alessio
54 Mykhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Colombia-Selle Italia
55 Uros Murn (Slo) Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave'
56 Andrea Moletta (Ita) Team Scanavino
57 Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Team Scanavino
58 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Team Saeco                           11.24
59 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Fassa Bortolo                        13.26
60 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre

Starters: 126
Classified: 60

Past winners

2002  Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo      200 kms in 5.40.27 (35.247 km/h)     
2001  Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo     178 kms in 4.56.49 (35.977 km/h)
2000  Danilo di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo     200 kms in 5.36.07 (35.700 km/h)
1999  Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Ballan-Alessio  199 kms in 5.23.33 (36.940 km/h)
1998  Stefano Colage (Ita) Cantina Tollo     200 kms in 5.20.30 (37.067 km/h)
1997  Michele Coppolillo (Ita)
1996  Fabiano Fonatanelli (Ita)
1995  Stefano Colage (Ita)
1994  Giorgio Furlan (Ita)
1992  Dimitri Zhdanov (Rus)
1991  Scott Sunderland (Aus)
1990  Adriano Baffi (Ita)
1989  Rolf Sörensen (Den)
1988  Steve Bauer (Can)
1987  Daniele Caroli (Ita)
1986  Francesco Cesarini (Ita)
1985  Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1984  Pierino Gavazzi (Ita)
1983  Francesco Moser (Ita)
1982  Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1981  Tommy Priem (Swe)
1980  Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1979  Giovanni Battaglin (Ita)
1978  Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)
1977  Giuseppe Saronni (Ita)

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com