Pascal Richard

The Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team made a forceful start to the Settimana International in Italy yesterday, with riders figuring in the heat of battle all day.

The stage race around Florence, also known as Memorial Cecchi Gori, features many of the top squads, and while not being as high ranked as last week's Tirreno-Adriatico is still hard fought and prestigious.

After a slow start to yesterday's action whilst the field bathed in warm sunshine, things started to get exciting after the day's early break of 14 riders was brought back. Matt Stephens worked his way into a move that contained 11, and they all worked hard to build a lead that topped 35 seconds with only 10kms remaining. The bunch, under pressure from Mario Cipollini's Saeco squad who had missed the move, furiously chased them down, but as they were captured, the in-form stars Paolo Bettini of Mapei and Franco Casagrande of Vini Caldirola countered.

Olympic Champion Pascal Richard of Linda McCartney bridged the gap and the three worked together to make good their escape, but they were hunted down. Unrepentant, the same three riders broke away again, this time in the company of that habitual World top 10 dweller, Davide Rebellin.

"When Pascal bridged the gap the first time he looked awesome, he just flew across to Bettini and Casagrande," reported team manger Sean Yates. "But the profile of the race just wasn't tough enough and the bunch was able to catch them."

This time, things looked very good for Pascal, as he is surely the most prolific finisher of that quartet, and he matched their speed easily on the climbs, but they were frustratingly recaptured with just over one kilometre remaining. As they reached the finishing stretch, the foolishness of running a race finish through so many tight corners and narrow streets became apparent when Casagrande and two of his team-mates came down on the last corner. Pascal was caught behind the melée, but Oscar Cavagnis of Alexia found himself in the right place at the right time. Max Sciandri, who had been hovering at the front of the bunch menacingly during Pascal's attacks shot through to snatch 8th, with Maurizio De Pasquale alongside in 9th.