Herman Van Springel

Giro d'Italia 1971 Stage 20a, 20b Gösta Pettersson Winner Last day Lainate Milano

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• published: 06 Jul 2013
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Winner General Classification Gösta Pettersson Fåglum. Team Ferretti. Monark Masi Thursday, June 10: Stage 20A, Ponte di Legno - Lainate, 185 km Giacinto Santambrogio: 4hr 35min 19sec Wilmo Francioni s.t. Guerrino Tosello s.t. Emilio Casalini @ 2sec Wladimiro Panizza s.t. Attilio Benfatto s.t. Attilio Rota s.t. Selvino Poloni @ 5sec Marino Basso @ 24sec Patrick Sercu s.t. Thursday, June 10: Final Stage, 20B, Lainate - Milano 20 kilometer individual time trial Ole Ritter: 25min 41sec Gösta Pettersson @ 39sec Roger Swerts @ 42sec Davide Boifava @ 44sec Pietro Guerra @ 50sec Herman van Springel @ 1mn 1sec Felice Gimondi @ 1min 3sec Roberto Sorlini @ 1min 18sec Pierfranco Vianelli @ 1min 25sec Giacinto Santambrogio, Romano Tumellero, Selvino Poloni @ 1min 33sec Final 1971 Giro d'Italia General Classification:
1. Gösta Pettersson (Ferretti) 97 hours 24 minutes 3 seconds
2. Herman van Springel (Molteni) @ 2 minutes 4 seconds
3. Ugo Colombo (Filotex) @ 2 minutes 35 seconds
4. Francisco Galdós (KAS) @ 4 minutes 27 seconds
5. Franco Vianelli (Dreher) @ 6 minutes 41 seconds Climbers' Competition:
1. José-Manuel Fuente (KAS): 360 points
2. Franco Vianelli (Dreher): 270
3. Franco Mori (SCIC): 190 Points Competition:
1. Marino Basso (Molteni): 181 points
2. Patrick Sercu (Dreher): 148
3. Felice Gimondi (Salvarani): 139 This excerpt is from "The Story of the Giro d'Italia", Volume 2. "For the 1971 Giro, Martini put three of the Petterssons in his lineup, Gösta, Erik and Sture. Gösta had shown good early-season form when he came in second to Merckx in Paris--Nice. Stage eighteen took the riders from Linz in Austria over the Tre Croci, Falzarego, Pordoi and Valles passes. Given that sprinter Marino Basso was the first rider over the Pordoi, one can assume that the pace for the first three ascents wasn't exactly white hot. But even that pace was too much for the Pink Jersey who must have been exhausted after riding well beyond himself defending the lead for more than a week. Indeed, Michelotto couldn't stay with the leaders on the Pordoi's ascent and while descending he flatted, rolled his tire and crashed. With the better riders together on the final climb, Alfredo Martini drove up next to Pettersson in the team car and was distressed to find that his team captain, who didn't have a particularly aggressive personality, was content to sit in the pack. Martini knew Pettersson was riding into magnificent condition and also knew this was the time to make a move. "Don't you know how strong you are?" he yelled, and screamed at the Swede to attack. The rest of the riders told Gösta to ignore Martini. At Martini's furious insistence Pettersson took off with several good riders for company, the move turning into a four-man break of Pettersson, Gimondi, van Springel and Francisco Galdós. Gimondi led them into Falcade ten minutes ahead of Michelotto, who was sporting a bad head wound from his crash. Michelotto was out of the Pink Jersey and, following his team doctor's advice, abandoned. Pettersson had quietly (if you ignore Martini's yelling) moved to the front of the line:
1. Gösta Pettersson
2. Ugo Colombo @ 1 minute 34 seconds
3. Herman van Springel @ 2 minutes 1 second
4. Francisco Galdós @ 3 minutes 29 seconds
5. Silvano Schiavon @ 5 minutes 19 seconds The next stage had three ascents including the Passo Tonale. It didn't change things much, except that van Springel was able to sneak into Ponte di Legno 19 seconds ahead of Pettersson. With only the 20-kilometer final-stage time trial left to affect the standings, that could be a big deal. The gap between them was now only 102 seconds and both van Springel and Pettersson were good against the clock.  But, there was no way van Springel, as competent as he was, could take the Giro away from Pettersson, one of the world's best time-trialists. Ole Ritter won the stage while Pettersson was second at 39 seconds. Van Springel gave up 22 seconds to the Swede, but it was a good enough performance to move him past Colombo into second place. Pettersson's director Alfredo Martini is given a lot of credit for Pettersson's careful, economical and measured climb to the lead. Pettersson didn't waste a single watt, winning a difficult Giro à la Balmamion, without winning a single stage. Martini said that if Pettersson had been a more aggressive rider, his talent would have allowed him far more victories during his short professional career.