Giro di Lombardia 2000

Preview

Starting from Varese Town Hall at 10:10am, it undulates through the provinces of Varese, Como, and Lecco for the first 120 kilometres, taking in the 10 km, 780m climb of the Madonna di Ghisallo. This climb at 75 kilometres is too early to be decisive, but attacks are often made on its upward slopes or its twisty decsent.

The parcours remains largely flat until kilometre 160, when the riders hit the 750m Col de Gello climb. This is merely a prelude to the highest point on the route, the 962m Selvino climb with its summit at 60 kilometres to go. While this may be still too far out to give the final selection, there are a couple of smaller climbs in the final run in to Bergamo. The last is the 5% rise of the Colle Aperto, with its crest at 4.2 kilometres to go.

Tchmil must win in order to overcome the 71 point deficit to Zabel, and it will be tough for the veteran who finished 14th in this race in 1999, and 19th in the World Championships last Sunday.

Tchmil will have to beat 1996 winner, Andrea Tafi (Mapei) who is still probably bristling from being left off the Italian World's team. It worked for Tafi in Paris-Tours, and it could work again in Lombardy. There are plenty of other Italians in good form also: Cantina Tollo's Danilo Di Luca (2nd in 1999), Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini (Mapei - if the two can sort out their differences), Francesco Casagrande (Vini Caldirola), Davide Rebellin (Liquigas-Pata), Gilberto Simoni and Gabriele Missaglia (Lampre).

Other foreign riders to watch include Fassa Bortolo's Wladimir Belli and Dmitri Konyshev, Lampre's Zbigniew Spruch and Oscar Camenzind (1998 winner), Liquigas' Gorazd Stangelj, Mapei's Oscar Freire, Kelme's Jose Luis Rubiera, Rabobank's Michael Boogerd (who showed some form last weekend), and of course, Vini Caldirola's new world champion, Romans Vainsteins.

Results - 258 km

1 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo 6.18.36 (40.892 km/h)
2 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
3 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Ceramica Panaria-Gaerne 0.04
4 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 0.07
5 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
6 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
7 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.22
8 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 2.11
9 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Liquigas-Pata 2.57
10 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.35
11 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio
12 Luca Scinto (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
13 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step
14 Stéphane Heulot (Fra) La Française des Jeux
15 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin
16 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank
17 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
18 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
19 Richard Virenque (Fra) Polti
20 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis
21 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
22 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
23 Felice Puttini (Swi) Alessio
24 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
25 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 4.02
26 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
27 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank
28 José Enrique Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
29 Sandro Giacomelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
30 Sergei Lelekin (Rus) Mobilvetta Design-Rossin
31 Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Amica Chips-Tacconi Sport
32 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Polti
33 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 4.09
34 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 4.35
35 Massimo Cigana (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom 4.47
36 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 5.00
37 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2r Prévoyance-Décathlon 5.35
38 Gianluca Valoti (Ita) Colpack 6.45
39 Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Regain 12.09
40 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Regain
41 Igor Pugaci (Mda) Saeco-Valli & Valli 12.13
42 Denis Zanette (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 14.08
43 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Valli & Valli
44 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
45 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
46 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
47 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank
48 Franco Ballerini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
49 Pietro Zucconi (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
50 Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Deutsche Telekom-ARD
51 Michele Coppolillo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom
52 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Farm Frites
53 Tom Leaper (Aus) Ceramica Panaria-Gaerne 14.38

Starters: 166
Finishers: 54

Final World Cup Standings

1 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 347 pts
2 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto Adecco 285
3 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 230
4 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 217
5 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 204

Teams:

1 Mapei-Quick Step 96 pts
2 Rabobank 71
3 Fassa Bortolo 60