Rebellin takes lead at Tour Méditerranéen
Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), winner of the 2000 Tour Méditerranéen, took over the lead of this year’s edition from Ivan Basso (Fassa Bartolo) after Basso suffered a crash in the first of Saturday’s two stages, a 108km race from Aigues Mortes to Beziers. The day’s stage wins were still the property of the peloton’s top sprinters as Gabriel Balducci (Tacconi) and Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won stages four and five respectively.Rebellin moved from second overall after Basso’s crash and now holds an eight second advantage over David Moncoutie and 23 seconds over Laurent Brochard.Basso was the
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Basso victim of stage four pile-up
By VeloNews Interactive, Copyright AFP2001
Basso – seen here in stage 2 — lost the lead after a hard crash on stage 4
Photo: Graham Watson
Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), winner of the 2000 Tour Méditerranéen, took over the lead of this year’s edition from Ivan Basso (Fassa Bartolo) after Basso suffered a crash in the first of Saturday’s two stages, a 108km race from Aigues Mortes to Beziers. The day’s stage wins were still the property of the peloton’s top sprinters as Gabriel Balducci (Tacconi) and Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) won stages four and five respectively.Rebellin moved from second overall after Basso’s crash and now holds an eight second advantage over David Moncoutie and 23 seconds over Laurent Brochard.Basso was the victim of a pile-up at the end of stage 4. The race leader hit his head on crowd barriers lining the course and was unable to finish. He was later taken to hospital by ambulance. Italian Gabriele Balducci finished that stage four seconds ahead of a hotly pursuing pack, lead by Stefano Zanini, Jaan Kirsipuu and Slovenian Zoran Clemencic.
Later that afternoon, Kirsipuu earned a stage win in a field sprint at the end of a short 80km stage, edging out Jimmy Casper, the winner of stage 3, and Tristan Hoffman.
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Results
Stage 4: Aigues Mortes – Beziers
1. Gabriele Balducci (I), 108km in 2:31:07
2. Stefano Zanini (I), at 0:04,
3. Zoran Clemencic (Slo),
4. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est),
5. Francois Simon (F),
6. Biagio Conte (I),
7. Robert McEwen (Aus),
8. Jimmy Casper (F),
9. Markus Zberg (Swi),
10. Miguel Meza Flores (Mex), all s.t.
Stage 5: Beziers – Carcasonne
1. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est), 80km in 2:27:21
2. Jimmy Casper (F),
3. Tristan Hoffman (Nl),
4. Zoran Clemencic (Slo),
5. Carlos Da Cruz (F),
6. Francois Simon (F),
7. Laurent Brochard (F),
8. Fabio Sacchi (I),
9. Alberto Benito (Sp),
10. David Clinger (U.S.A.), all s.t.
Overall after five stages:
1. Davide Rebellin (I), 14:18:19,
2. David Moncoutie (F), at 0:08,
3. Laurent Brochard (F), at 0:23,
4. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), at 0:26,
5. Patrick Jonker (Nl), at 0:36,
6. Mirko Celestino (I), at 0:39,
7. Beat Zberg (Swi), at 0:49,
8. Markus Zberg (Swi), at 0:52,
9. Bobby Julich (U.S.A.), at 1:03,
10. Sebastien Demarbaix (B), at 1:11.