Flèche Wallonne (V)

20-04-2009 22:04:36

The competitions continue on two fronts for the girls of Selle Italia-Ghezzi: while while a part of the team is engaged in China in the Tour of Chongming Island, six other girls are preparing for the Flèche Wallonne, fourth round of the World Cup, wich will be held on wednesday over a distance of 98 km with the finish line at the top of the hard "Mur de Huy". In Belgium, the team leader will be Fabiana Luperini, as the strong cliber, in the past, won this classic three times (98-01-02): she will be supported by Kaytee Boyd, Martine Bras, Sigrid Corneo, Oxana Kozonchuk and Luisa Tamanini.
The sports director Walter Zini explains the ambitions of the team: «We want to get a good result, Fabiana is fine but obviously she can not be at the top of the form because of the operation and because her goals are a bit far ahead: Vos e Johansson started very strong in this season and it will be hard to beat them but Fabiana has repeatedly proven to be competitive even with a condition not perfect».
Meanwhile in China in the third stage of the Tour of Chongming Island, the longest in its 122 km, the misfortune hit the team. At km 40 of race Marina Romoli and Sabrina Zogli have been involved in a fall while Lorena Foresi crashed with 300 meters to go when she was in fourth position ready to launch the sprint for stage victory: unfortunately Sabrina Zogli was not able to come back to the bouch and she was forced to retire. Lorena Foresi is now fifth in the general classification on the eve of the final stage, another flat route of 74.2 km with two intermediate sprints.