GIRO DE ITALIA 1999 Stage 5, Terme Luigiane - Monte Sirino, 150 kms
Results:
1. José Jaime Gonzalez Pico (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca 4.11.47
2. Danilo Di luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 0.05
3. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 0.06
4. Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 0.06
5. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Team Polti 0.06
6. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 0.06
7. Dario Frigo (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 0.06
8. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 0.08
9. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Ballan-Alessio 0.09
10. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 0.16
11. Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Navigare-Gaerne 0.16
12. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 0.17
13. Andrea Noe' (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.17
14. Santiago Blanco Gil (Spa) Vitalicio Siguros 0.17
15. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 0.17
16. José Maria Jimenez Sastre (Spa) Banesto 0.17
17. Daniel Clavero (Spa) Vitalicio Siguros 0.17
18. Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Mobilvetta-Northwave 0.17
19. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Siguros 0.17
20. Serguei Ivanov (Rus) TVM-Farm Frites 0.21
GC after Stage 5
1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 21.26.18
2. Danilo Di luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo-Alexia 0.07
3. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 0.14
4. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 0.16
5. Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 0.16
6. Dario Frigo (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 0.16
7. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Team Polti 0.16
8. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Ballan-Alessio 0.19
9. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 0.26
10. Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Navigare-Gaerne 0.26
Report
Colombian José Jaime Gonzalez, also known as "Chepe" stormed to the finish on the first mountain top stage end (1525 metres) for the Giro. But the winner for the day was French rider Laurent Jalabert, who took the Maglia Rosa (pink leader's jersey) off Dutch sprinter Jeroen Blijlevens. Chepe Gonzalez from Kelme-Costa Blanca attacked with Italian Danilo Di Luca (Cantina Tollo-Alexia) around 30 kms from the end and maintained the narrow margin on the climb, although the small group of chasers nearly closed him down. In the last three years, Chepe Gonzalez has won two stages in the Giro.
On the earlier stages of the climb, he had a maximum lead of 1 minute on the small chasing group. In the last km though Jalabert and Marco Pantani rode strongly in an effort to bring him back. They only just failed. Gonzalez broke from Di Luca in the closing stages and Jalabert and Pantani, aided by Gotti, Savoldelli, and Frigo failed by 1 second to catch him.
Pantani looked in awesome form taking the climb easily. His time will come when the Giro heads to the north.