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 Still ahead Jalabert still leads; Missaglia wins fourth stage
Posted: Saturday June 19, 1999 03:23 PM
CHIASSO, Switzerland (AP) -- Italy's Gabriele Missaglia won the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse on Friday, but was unable to wrest the overall lead from France's Laurent Jalabert. Missaglia finished 25 seconds ahead of Jalabert, who was ninth, and picked up a bonus of 10 seconds as the stage winner. But the Italian still found himself 16 seconds behind Jalabert in the overall rankings. Spain's Mikel Zarrabeitia, Jalabert's ONCE teammate, chased down Missaglia in the finishing meters (yards) of the race in an attempt to win the stage and prevent the Italian taking the bonus seconds. Zarrabeitia ended the race three seconds behind, with Italy's Amilcare Tronca another five seconds back. Bjarne Riis, the Dane who won the 1996 Tour de France, did not start Friday after coming off his bicycle on the way to the start line of the 167.5-kilometer (104.7-mile) stage from Bellinzona to Chiasso. Riis broke his wrist when he hit a curbstone and crashed. He was taken to hospital in Bellinzona for treatment. Riis' Deutsche Telekom teammate Jan Ullrich, also a Tour de France champion, abandoned the race during the second stage because of knee pain. It had been unclear whether Saturday's flagship mountain stage from Bellinzona to Grindelwald would be able to take place along the planned route after a fall of rocks on the road, but organizers announced late Friday that the area was considered safe for the 171.4-kilometer (107-mile) stage.
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