Milano San Remo 1992

Milano San Remo 1992 - 21 March 1992, 294 Km. La Classicissima. On the Cipressa ascent, a remarkable acceleration by Alcala and Maassen compelled the Ariostea team to an "expensive" chase, extracting a heavy toll on Furlan's and Sorensen's energies. Cassani was involved in a crash, and Argentin found himself at the foot of Poggio with no team-mates. He was forced to make dire decisions alone: Argentin put in a first acceleration, then a second one. Behind him the group stretched over the ascent, and then broke up. Jalabert, Colagè, Fondriest and Van de Laer were able to resist his attack, albeit visibly torn by the effort. After a moment's decrease in speed, Argentin struck with another acceleration, impressive and exciting; eventually, only Van de Laer resisted. Argentin was then forced to make another attack - his fourth - and he was alone at last. He managed to finish the Poggio with a nine second advantage over a small group of riders, driven by Fondriest. Kelly never showed himself, he never responded to the numerous accelerations, simply climbing fast and steadily, drafting from other riders and protecting himself from the wind. And so he was there, clear-minded, determined and full of precious energy. Argentin, having produced an enormous anaerobic effort while attacking, had by then a great amount of lactic acid affecting his legs, and his riding skills on the descent were gradually diminishing. On the descent Kelly attacked, powerful and determined. Sorensen couldn't stay on his wheel, and the Festina athlete got away alone; he gained ground at every curve, dangerously skimming the small roadside walls. There was no way Argentin could have known about the danger approaching him. Kelly, masked by a flock of press and support motorcycles, finally swooped in on him with only one kilometre left to race. Argentin turned, saw him, and asked him to take the front. But the Irish rider coldly kept behind his wheel. The two almost seemed to stop, while the pack approached menacingly. Then Kelly made his only move, launching a final sprint to take an easy victory. 1. Sean KELLY (Eir) Festina in 7h 31'42" 2. Moreno Argentin (Ita) Ceramiche Ariostea 3. Johan Museeuw (Bel) Lotto à 3" 4. Uwe Raab (Ger) PDM 5. Scott Sunderland (Aus) TVM 6. Olaf Ludwig (Ger) Panasonic 7. Nico Verhoeven (Hol) PDM 8. Etienne De Wilde (Bel) Telekom 9. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE 10. Rolf Sorensen (Dan) Creamiche Ariostea 11. Edwig Van Hooydonck (Hol) Buckler 12. Jim Van de Laer (Bel) Tulip Computers 13. Beat Zberg (Sui) Helvetia 14. Dag-Otto Lauritzen (Nor) Motorola 15. Stefano Zanini (Ita) Italbonifica-Navigare 16. Jean-Claude Leclercq (Fra) Helvetia 17. Bo Hamburger (Dan) TVM 18. Richard Virenque (Fra) RMO 19. Stéphane Heulot (Fra) RMO 20. Alex Zulle (Sui) ONCE 21. Inaki Gaston (Esp) Clas Cajastur 22. Greg LeMond (Usa) Z 23. Mauro Gianetti (Sui) Festina 24. Maurizio Fondriest (Ita) Panasonic 25. Luc Roosen (Bel) Tulip Computers 26. Steven Rooks (Hol) Buckler 27. Franco Ballerini (Ita) GB-MG Maglificio 28. Maximilian Sciandri (Ita) Motorola 29. Tom Cordes (Hol) à 8" PDM 30. Giuseppe Petito (Ita) Mercatone Uno