Fassa Bortolo hot in Italy too

• Results

By VeloNews Interactive wire services, Copyright 2001 AFP

While Dario Frigo was winning Paris-Nice, his Fassa Bortolo teammates were also lighting it up at Tirreno-Adriatico. Italian Roberto Petito, of the Fassa Bortolo team, won the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in Torricella Sicura Sunday, a 14.2km time trial. The overall lead changed hands for the third time in three days, as Petito’s teammate Sergei Ivanov displaced Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin in the overall standings.

Petito finished ahead of second-placed Spaniard David Plaza Romero and his Russian teammate Sergei Ivanov, who takes over the lead in the overall standings.

It confirms Petito’s return to form after his victory last week in the Trofeo Pantalico and a year after he had to miss the 2000 running of the Tirreno-Adriatico because of illness.

Petito thanked his new team boss Giancarlo Ferretti for saving his career. “I owe an awful lot to Ferretti,” said Petito. “It takes a lot of courage to pay a rider who has not ridden for six months,” said Petito.

Petito is only one second behind his Russian team-mate in the overall standings but Ivanov remained confident, saying: “We are close in the standings but it is me who is wearing the leader’s jersey so I hope the team gives me the support I need.”

Results

1. Roberto Petito (I), Fassa Bortolo, 14.20 km in 19:47.
2. David Plaza Romero (Sp), at 0:02.
3. Sergei Ivanov (Rus), at 0:04.
4. Gabriele Colombo (I), at 0:05.
5. Paolo Savoldelli (I), s.t.
6. Bradley McGee (Aus), at 0:08.
7. Ruslan Ivanov (Mol), at 0:12.
8. Davide Rebellin (I), at 0:13.
9. Michael Boogerd (Nl), at 0:15.
10. Beat Zberg (Swi), s.t.

Overall
1. Ivanov
2. Petito, at 0:01
3. Colombo, at 0:02
4. Plaza, at 0:03
5. Rebellin, s.t.
6. Savoldelli, at 0:06;
7. Boogerd, at 0:08
8. Ivanov, at 0:13
9. Zberg, at 0:16
10. Nathan O’Neill (Aus), at 0:20