September 9, 2002 – Just two months ago he announced his retirement, but
today Mario Cipollini has won the first stage of his career in the Vuelta
d’Espana. Stage 3 of this year’s Vuelta led the pack from San Vicente del Raspeig to Murcia over 140 kilometres and ended in a mass sprint. Cipollini showed that he still has to be regarded as the best sprinter on the circuit as he beat his highly rated
colleagues Alessandro Petacchi, Erik Zabel, Oscar Freire and Sven
Teutenberg.

Cipollini had taken part in the Vuelta d’Espana only three times before.
During those races he only managed to finish two times inside the Top-10 of
any stage. That is a sharp contrast to Cipo’s career stats of twelve stage
wins in the Tour de France and the 40 stage victories in the Giro d’Italia.

Stage 3: San Vicente de Raspeg – Murcia, 134.2 km

1. Mario Cipollini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
3. Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom
4. Oscar Freire (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step
5. Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems
6. Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi
7. Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-MSS
8. MartÃŒn Garrido (Arg) Relax-Fuenlabrada
9. Juan Guillamon (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria
10. Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin

81. Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service

Overall:

1. Joseba Beloki (Spa) onCE-Eroski 7.33.33
2. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) onCE-Eroski
3. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) onCE-Eroski
4. JosÈ Azevedo (Por) onCE-Eroski
5. Marcos Serrano (Spa) onCE-Eroski
6. J—rg Jaksche (Ger) onCE-Eroski
7. JosÈ Gutierrez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.09
8. Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom 0.12
9. Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal Service 0.14
10. Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal Service

79. Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service 1.10