Stage 22

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Stage 22

Gotti Wins 82nd Giro

MILAN, ITALY, 6 JUN 99 - Italian rider Ivan Gotti kisses the cup on podium after the 22nd 170km. stage of the Giro d'Italia from Boario Terme to Milano June 6. Ivan Gotti won his second Giro d'Italia in three years following the shock elimination of Marco Pantani for failing a blood test. Gotti finished three minutes 35 seconds clear of fellow Italian Paolo Savoldelli. sr/Photo by Stefano Rellandini REUTERS

MILAN, ITALY,6 JUN 99 - Italian pink jersey leader Ivan Gotti (C) raises his arms as teammates of Polti applud him during the 22nd 170 km last stage of Giro D'Italia from Boario Terme to Milan June 6. Gotti retains the overall race leadership. pc/Photo by Paolo Cocco REUTERS

MILAN, ITALY, 6 JUN 99 - Italian pink jersey leader Ivan Gotti (L) looks at Colombian rider Jose Gonzalez wearing a sombrero during the 22th 170 km last stage of Giro D'Italia from Boario Terme to Milan June 6. Gotti retained the overall race leadership. pc/Photo by Paolo Cocco REUTERS

MILAN, Italy, June 6 - Ivan Gotti won his second Giro d'Italia in three years on Sunday following the shock elimination of Marco Pantani for failing a blood test.

Gotti finished three minutes 35 seconds clear of fellow Italian Paolo Savoldelli. The final stage over 170 kms from Boario Terme was won by Italy's Fabrizi Guidi with compatriot Dario Pieri second and Massimo Strazzer, another Italian, third.

Pantani, leading the Giro by five minutes 38 seconds with just two of the 22 days of racing left, failed a blood test on Saturday because of an above-the-limit amount of haematocrit.

He was at home considering his future on Sunday. He is excluded from competition for 15 days and this will end with another test to see if he can race again, possibly in the Tour de France which he won last year.

In a television interview, Pantani said he was reconsidering his earlier decision not to take part in the Tour.

The Giro win was only Gotti's fourth race win in a nine-year career, but the highlights have been in all the biggest races for this 30-year-old.

Gotti won the 1997 Giro ahead of Russian Pavel Tonkov. That was the year when Pantani was felled by a cat and was at home as Italy celebrated the first home victory for five years.

Again the shaven-headed Il Pirata is back home in Cesenatico after his clouded exit from the Giro and Gotti is once more the stand-in conqueror but he insists: "I have always been among the leaders in this Giro, so I merited my victory."

Whereas Pantani has a friendly flamboyance that brings him fans of all ages, Gotti is an unassuming character who has also had his share of problems.

Last year an intestinal infection wrecked his season. It forced him out of the Giro and he missed the Tour de France which Pantani won.

Gotti can also recall the time he was robbed of a possible Giro success. Team manager Gianluigi Stanga ordered him to drop back from a leading group to assist his struggling team leader, Gianni Bugno, the 1991 Giro winner.

Disgusted, Gotti changed teams at the end of the season, but this year he is back with Stanga who, like his rider, is from the Bergamo region.

Gotti triumphs, Pantani muses, cycling suffers

By Mike Price

MILAN, Italy, June 6 - Ivan Gotti triumphed in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, but for many Italians the true winner was musing on his misfortune at home on the Adriatic coast.

Marco Pantani's elimination, when he was leading by more than five minutes with just two stages of the 22-day race remaining, has underscored the doping problems in the sport that exploded almost a year ago on the Tour de France.

The fall of Tour winner Pantani for failing a blood test was the last thing the sport needed with this year's Tour just round the corner. Italian fans were swift to let their feelings be known.

On Saturday, as news of Pantani's fate spread, official cars ran a gauntlet of beating fists on their way to the stage finish in Aprica.

Sunday's route to Milan was signed with messages of support for Pantani: "You are the real winner," they told him. "The best has gone home."

No comfort to Gotti who had ridden 3,757 kilometres from Sicily to claim his second Giro victory in three years, albeit in the eyes of many by default.

Gotti mounted a sturdy defence, telling reporters: "Some fans called me a thief and whistled at me. That is not fair. I have not stolen anything from anyone. "I am not responsible for Marco Pantani's exclusion, but it has left me in an uncomfortable position."

No comfort too for cycling's hierarchy, desperate to shrug off the unwelcome aura that surrounds their sport.

Hein Verbruggen, president of the Union Cycliste Internationale, stressed Pantani's case was not one of doping but rather a failed blood test, part of a regime introduced for the sake of riders' health. The tests can act as a check on the use of EPO, a blood-enhancer used to speed recovery.

Cycling has been haunted by doping for 40 years and more, and is still struggling to clamp down on the purveyors and the users. Fall-out from last year's Tour de France is still being felt with the 1999 version just a month away.

The Pantani affair prompted Gotti's sponsor Franco Polti to call on Saturday for a halt to the sport for a year so it could take the chance to talk it all over and "begin again from zero."

No chance of that as the Tour looms large, with Pantani now reconsidering an earlier decision not to defend his title.

If he goes, Gotti will be there as well, ironically to support Polti team leader Richard Virenque -- the Frenchman still under investigation after last year's Tour.

But Gotti disclosed: "If he can't start, then I will be our team leader."

Boario Terme-Milano 169 km

Stage 22

1. Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Team Polti 4.29.43
2. Dario Pieri (Ita) Navigare-Gaerne
3. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave
4. Serguei Smetanine (Rus) Vitalicio Siguros
5. Samuele Schiavina (Ita) Riso Scotti-Vinavil

6. Mariano Piccoli (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
7. Andreas Klier (Ger) TVM-Farm Frites
8. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale
9. Angel Edo (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca
10. William Chann Mcrae (USA) Mapei-Quick Step

11. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale
12. Biagio Conte (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
13. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Navigare-Gaerne
14. Nicola Minali (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia
15. Marco Gili (Ita) Amica Chips-Costa Almeria

16. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Navigare-Gaerne
17. Francesco Arazzi (Ita) Amica Chips-Costa Almeria
18. Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Spa) ONCE
19. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Ballan-Alessio
20. Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec

Leading overall standings:

1. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Team Polti 99.55.56
2. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 3.35
3. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Ballan-Alessio 3.36
4. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 5.16
5. Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Kelme7.47

6. Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Navigare-Gaerne 9.38
7. Sergei Honchar (Ukr) Vini Caldirola- 12.07
8. Daniele De Paoli (Ita) Amica Chips- 14.20
9. Daniel Clavero (Spa) Vitalicio Siguros 15.53
10. Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) Cantina Tollo- 17.31

11. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 17.39
12. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Siguros 20.14
13. Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Kelme- 22.44
14. Richard Virenque (Fra) Team Polti 24.15
15. Hernan Buenahora (Col) Vitalicio Siguros 24.38

16. Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 42.12
17. Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 44.23
18. Pavel Padrnos (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 44.30
19. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) ONCE 47.39
20. Nicola Miceli (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 47.40

21. Aleksandr Shefer (Kaz) Riso Scotti-Vinavil 51.31
22. Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) Liquigas-Pata 51.48
23. José Jaime Gonzalez Pico (Col) Kelme- 53.36
24. Felice Puttini (Swi) Amica Chips 1.00.25
25. Oscar Mason (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 1.02.17

26. Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Navigare-Gaerne 1.04.15
27. Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Saeco 1.06.18
28. Andrea Noe' (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.09.58
29. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONCE 1.11.37
30. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 1.14.11

31. Mauro Zanetti (Ita) Vini Caldirola 1.14.28
32. Amilcare Tronca (Ita) Amica Chips 1.17.28
33. José Maria Jimenez Sastre (Spa) Banesto 1.19.34
34. Jose' Luis Arrieta (Spa) Banesto 1.23.14
35. Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Cantina Tollo 1.28.25

36. Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.35.04
37. Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Mobilvetta- 1.37.41
38. Mariano Piccoli (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 1.39.02
39. Francisco J. Cerezo Perales (Spa) Vital 1.39.29
40. Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Navigare-Gaerne 1.41.13

41. Miguel Angel Pena (Spa) Banesto 1.45.00
42. Marco Della Vedova (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 1.48.01
43. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Ballan-Alessio 1.49.24
44. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.50.25
45. Prudencio Indurain (Spa) Vitalicio Siguros 1.52.06

46. Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Amica Chips 1.52.19
47. Massimo Donati (Ita) Vini Caldirola 1.54.51
48. William Chann Mcrae (USA) Mapei 1.55.12
49. Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Riso Scotti-Vinavil 1.55.23
50. Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Cantina Tollo 2.00.58

51. Orlando Sergio Gomes Rodrigues 2.03.07
52. Eugeni Berzin (Rus) Amica Chips 2.05.45
53. Fausto Dotti (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 2.06.20
54. Filippo Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola 2.10.09
55. Pascal Richard (Swi) Mobilvetta 2.10.10

56. Andrea Peron (Ita) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 2.10.11
57. Marco Magnani (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 2.10.21
58. Vjatceslav Ekimov (Rus) Amica Chips 2.14.08
59. Bo Hamburger (Den) Cantina Tollo 2.17.06
60. Roberto Petito (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 2.21.15

61. Cristiano Frattini (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 2.26.59
62. Stefano Panetta (Ita) Navigare-Gaerne 2.32.52
63. Victor Pena (Col) Vitalicio Siguros 2.33.46
64. Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Team Polti 2.37.14
65. Paolo Valoti (Ita) Mobilvetta-Northwave 2.38.45

66. Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Banesto 2.38.49
67. Mario Scirea (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 2.40.43
68. Francisco Cabello (Spa) Kelme 2.41.15
69. Enrico Cassani (Ita) Team Polti 2.41.56
70. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Navigare 2.43.05

71. Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola 2.43.09
72. Inigo Cuesta Lopez de Castro (Spa) ONCE 2.45.48
73. Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero ONCE 2.46.23
74. Mirko Celestino (Ita) Team Polti 2.47.01
75. Martin Hvastija (Slo) Ballan-Alessio 2.47.35

76. Oscar Pellicioli (Ita) Team Polti 2.47.54
77. Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Liquigas-Pata 2.48.11
78. Andreas Klier (Ger) TVM-Farm Frites 2.51.46
79. Angel Edo (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 2.53.09
80. Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 2.53.18

81. Dario Pieri (Ita) Navigare-Gaerne 2.53.27
82. Diego Ferrari (Ita) Riso Scotti-Vinavil 2.55.05
83. Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 2.56.41
84. David Navas Chica (Spa) Banesto 2.56.45
85. Santos Gonzalez (Spa) ONCE 2.56.53

86. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) Saeco 2.57.15
87. Biagio Conte (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 2.58.20
88. Marco Gili (Ita) Amica Chips 2.58.34
89. David Canada Garcia (Spa) ONCE 2.58.43
90. Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Riso Scotti-Vinavil 2.59.38

91. Michel Lafis (Swe) TVM-Farm Frites 3.00.45
92. Serguei Smetanine (Rus) Vitalicio Siguros 3.01.01
93. Gines Salmeron Martinez (Spa) Vitalicio 3.03.39
94. Eduardo Hernandez Bailo (Spa) Kelme 3.03.40
95. Matteo Frutti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 3.06.19

96. Rodolfo Ongarato (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 3.06.46
97. Alain Turicchia (Ita) Riso Scotti-Vinavil 3.07.03
98. Massimo Apollonio (Ita) Vini Caldirola 3.07.28
99. Samuele Schiavina (Ita) Riso Scotti 3.08.08
100. Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.08.09

101. Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) ONCE 3.09.39
102. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Navigare-Gaerne 3.09.54
103. Fabio Baldato (Ita) Ballan-Alessio 3.12.12
104. Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola 3.17.03
105. Carlo Marino Bianchi (Ita) Riso Scotti 3.17.41

106. Guido Trenti (USA) Cantina Tollo 3.19.30
107. Denis Zanette (Ita) Team Polti 3.19.54
108. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Mobilvetta 3.19.57
109. Giuseppe Calcaterra (Ita) Saeco 3.24.20
110. Andrea Brognara (Ita) Cantina Tollo 3.24.53

111. Stefano Faustini (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 3.25.08
112. Francesco Arazzi (Ita) Amica Chips 3.25.28
113. Nicola Minali (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 3.27.21
114. Alessio Galletti (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 3.32.56
115. Miquel Van Kessel (Ned) TVM 3.37.03
116. Hendrik Van Dyck (Bel) TVM 3.48.49