Rain claims Casagrande

Rastelli triumphs in the sprint finish

Race favourite Francesco Casagrande has retired from the 2001 Giro d'Italia after fracturing his left wrist in the first main road stage on Sunday.

The Italian, who finished second in the Giro last year, crashed on a rain-soaked descent 20km from the finish.

He finished the stage 37 seconds behind winner Ellis Rastelli of Italy.

But x-rays confirmed the fracture and his Fassa Bortolo team said he would not start the second stage on Monday.

Rastelli, riding for the Liquigas team, claimed the first stage in a sprint finish but Belgium's Rik Verbrugghe retains the leader's pink jersey.

Verbrugghe, winner of the prologue time trial, has a nine seconds advantage over Dario Frigo and 13 seconds over Jan Hruska of the Czech Republic.

Former Giro winner Marco Pantani and ex-world champion Abraham Olano were the potential winners to gain most from various splits in the field due to the weather.

They gained 37 seconds on the next group, and one minute and 55 seconds on German former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich.

Cycling's nearly man

The consistent Casagrande is ranked number one in the world by the sport's governing body.

He has maintained his position in the UCI standings despite a series of runners-up places and bad luck in the past 12 months.

Last year he led the Giro until the final weekend, when a knee injury helped cost him overall victory on the final mountain time trial.

He then went on to endure runners-up slots in two of the remaining one-day World Cup races of 2000.

There was also another near-miss in this year's Liege-Bastogne-Liege Classic in Belgium.

Casagrande may now mount a challenge for the Tour de France title in July.

He should recover in time for the big race, although his Fassa Bortolo team may decide to hold him back for the remainder of the one-day Classics season in August and October.

Giro d'Italia: first stage results

1. Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Liquigas 5hrs 15min 06sec,
2. Vladimir Duma (Ukr),
3. Gabriele Colombo (Ita),
4. Abraham Olano (Spa),
5. Rik Verbrugghe (Bel),
6. Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa),
7. Mariano Piccoli (Ita),
8. Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita),
9. Marco Pantani (Ita),
10. Jan Hruska (Cze),
11. Ermanno Brignoli (Ita),
12. Dario Frigo (Ita),
13. Gilberto Simoni (Ita),
14. Wladimir Belli (Ita),
15. Oscar Camenzind (Swi),
16. Jose Azevedo (Por) all same time,
17. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) at 37sec,
18. Danilo Hondo (Ger),
19. Marco Magnani (Ita),
20. Paolo Bossoni (Ita) all same time.