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Zanini wins in Philly; McCormack USPRO champ

By Bryan Jew, VeloNews assistant managing editor
Published: Jun. 8, 2003
The new USPRO champion
The new USPRO champion
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

On the biggest single day of racing in the U.S., the Europeans may have slowed the Saturn train a bit, with Saeco’s Stefano Zanini winning the Wachovia USPRO Championship in a field sprint, but Saturn still took home the stars-and-stripes jersey, with 10-year Saturn veteran Mark McCormack earning the right to wear the American champion’s jersey for the next year.

It was a somewhat unexpected ending to a day in Philadelphia that early on began to unfold like recent editions of the race. Of the European teams, CSC was pegged as the favorite, after Jakob Piil and Julian Dean winning Lancaster and Trenton, respectively, earlier in the week. Saturn had also ridden strongly earlier in the week, with McCormack finishing second in Lancaster and Viktor Rapinski taking third in Trenton.

McCormack wasn't necessarily favored today.
McCormack wasn't necessarily favored today.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

To be sure, McCormack had ridden strongly leading up to Sunday’s race, but he may not have been No. 1 on people’s minds after a spring season dominated by his teammates Chris Horner, Nathan O’Neill and Tom Danielson. But on Sunday, the Massachusetts rider was finally repaid for all his team support work early in the season.

Sunday in Philadelphia started cool and overcast, but dry. After another week of rain in an already rainy year on the East Coast, the weather was near perfect on race day, with temperature around 60 and a light drizzle that would end shortly after the race start.

The day’s early break formed on the first lap, and the composition was right for a long escape: Trent Klasna from Saturn, Jonathan Vaughters from Prime Alliance, Siro Camponogara of Navigators and Tristan Hoffman of CSC. The four riders settled into the pace nicely, and with four of the strongest teams in the race represented, the chase behind was minimal early on.

In between, a couple of riders would vainly attempt to bridge, most notably Wes Seigler (West Virginia) and Nic Brown (LeMond-Captain Cra Z Soap), who would hover in between the break and the peloton for almost four trips around the 14.4-mile course between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Manayunk Wall. For the most part, though, it was Klasna, Vaughters, Camponogara and Hoffman setting the tone for the race, with Klasna riding strongly each time up the Wall to sweep up points on his way to the King of the Mountains title.

The four men off the front stayed there for nearly four-and-a-half hours, 115 miles, and about eight laps of the 10 main circuits. With no long, sustained chase behind, their lead reached a maximum of six minutes midway through the race, but when Camponogara was dropped on the eighth trip up the wall, their advantage was down to under 1:30.

The remaining trio managed to hold off the chase for another lap, but the inevitable catch finally came on the ninth climb in Manayunk. As the leaders were caught on the climb, Saturn’s O’Neill launched an immediate counterattack, quickly opening up a gap, but he was brought back by CSC and Postal.

Didn't we see this guy, or his brother, at the Tour?
Didn't we see this guy, or his brother, at the Tour?
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

From there, a flurry of attacks came, but a relatively easy pace early in the race had left much of the peloton with fresh legs, and with only one more trip up the wall, there wasn’t enough time to soften up the peloton any further. Saeco’s Igor Astarloa attacked that final time up the Wall and opened a 15-second gap, but he, too, was brought back.

The race headed back onto the Parkway, with about 40 riders still in the front group, and it soon became clear that, despite a flurry of attacks, the race was coming down to a field sprint.

A dangerous break
A dangerous break
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

The last move that looked like it could stick came on the second of the three-mile finishing circuits, when Fred Rodriguez (Vini-Caldirola), Geert Van Bondt (CSC), John Lieswyn (7UP-Maxxis), David Clinger (Prime Alliance) and Matt White (U.S. Postal Service) escaped over Lemon Hill.

“That five-man group, I thought was it,” said Lieswyn. “It was our best chance, and then when that got caught, we were just thinking about Kevin Monahan.”

That’s the shift in thinking that occurred on just about every team, including Saeco’s, whose Flèche Wallonne winner Astarloa was now committed to delivering Zanini to the line. Likewise, Saturn’s Horner was fully committed to putting McCormack into the best position possible.

On the third and final finishing lap, the whole group hit the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the final time, heading south under the finish line before the roundabout of Logan Circle and the return trip to the finishing sprint.

As the riders rounded the fountain in Logan Circle, Astarloa took Zanini to the front, where he would do battle with Formaggi Pinzolo’s Slovenian sprinter, Uros Murn, Dean and McCormack.

“I started with 200 meters to go,” said Zanini, “and Murn came up very, very fast, but I held him off.”

Zanini held him off, but just barely. At the line, it was too close to call, and Zanini wouldn’t celebrate until the official ruling came down.

“To not bring any bad luck, I waited for the official verdict before I said anything,” said Zanini.

Behind, Dean edged out McCormack for the third spot on the podium, but the Saturn rider’s fourth place would net him the USPRO championship.

“It’s an honor to win the jersey, and I’m excited about it,” said McCormack. “This has always been a big dream of mine. Of course, I would have loved to win outright, but it’s a hard race to win, especially with world-class sprinters all around you.”

To see how today's race unfolded, just follow this link to bring up our Live update window.

Results
1. Stefano Zanini, Saeco 5:56:21
2. Uros Murn, Formaggi Pinzolo
3. Julian Dean, CSC
4. Mark McCormack, Saturn
5. Max Van Heeswijk, U.S. Postal
6. Massimiliano Mori, Formaggi Pinzolo
7. Kevin Monahan, 7UP
8. Henk Vogels, Navigators
9. David Clinger, Prime Alliance
10. Mike Sayers, Health Net
11. Igor Astarloa, Saeco
12. Alex Candelario, Prime Alliance
13. Vassili Davidenko, Navigators
14. Oscar Pineda, 7UP
15. Chris Horner, Saturn
16. Thomas Bruun Eriksen, CSC
17. John Lieswyn, 7UP
18. Adam Livingston, Schroeder Iron
19. Matthew White, U.S. Postal
20. Tim Larkin, Ofoto
21. Eddy Mazzoleni, Vini Caldirola
22. Viktor Rapinski, Saturn
23. Jeff Louder, Navigators
24. Cezary Zamana, MRO
25. Chann McRae, Schroeder Iron
26. Kazimierz Stafiej, MRO
27. Mariano Friedick, Jelly Belly
28. Simon Kessler, SportsBook.com
29. Fred Rodriguez, Vini Caldirola
30. Scott Guyton, Flanders Iteamnova
31. David McKenzie, Flanders Iteamnova
32. David O’Loughlin, Ofoto
33. Geert Van Bondt, CSC
34. Bert Scheirlinckx, Flanders Iteamnova
35. Paul Martin, West Virginia
36. Chris Baldwin, Navigators
37. Zbigniew Piatek, MRO
38. Michael Barry, U.S. Postal
39. Patrick Calcagni, Vini Caldirola
40. Andy Bajadali, Ofoto
41. Jimmi Madsen, CSC
42. Matt Decanio, Prime Alliance
43. Alan Iacuone, Flanders Iteamnova
44. Oleg Grishkine, Navigators
45. Steffen Kjaergaard, U.S. Postal
46. Antonio Bucciero, Saeco
47. Michael Jones, West Virginia , all s.t.
48. Dominique Perras, Flanders Iteamnova , at 0:08
49. Jamie Drew, Flanders Iteamnova , at 0:20
50. Danny Pate, Prime Alliance , at 0:27
51. Juan Fuentes Angullo, MX , at 0:32
52. Jason Lokkesmoe, Health Net , at 3:45
53. James Mattis, Webcor
54. Trent Klasna, Saturn
55. Jason Bausch, Schroeder Iron
56. Cameron Hughes, Schroeder Iron
57. Scottie Weiss, West Virginia
58. Russell Hambey, Ofoto
59. Lars Michaelsen, CSC
60. Andrea Tafi, CSC
61. Roman Peter, Ofoto
62. Staf Scheirlinckx, Flanders Iteamnova
63. Brice Jones, 7UP
64. Jonathan Sundt, Jittery Joes
65. Chris Pic, 7UP
66. Derek Wilkerson, Jelly Belly
67. Aaron Olsen, Schroeder Iron
68. Kirk Albers, Jelly Belly
69. Eric Wohlberg, Saturn
70. Marco Gili, Vini Caldirola, all s.t.

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