Berzin's Success Baffled Bombini

MILAN -- Italian team manager Emanuele Bombini has had to change his plans twice because of Yevgeny Berzin's rapid rise to fame. The Russian, who clinched a remarkable victory by almost three minutes in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, was not even scheduled to contest the event when Bombini mapped out the season's strategy for his Gewiss Ballan team. Instead, Berzin was lined up to ride the Tour de France in support of the Latvian, Piotr Ugrumov and the Dane, Bjarne Riis. But Bombini had to rethink when the racer scored an upset win by beating Tony Rominger and Armand de las Cuevas in the time trial of the Criterium International. Bombini brought Berzin into his Giro squad but still as a worker for his team leaders, particularly Moreno Argentin, for whom Berzin had helped to defend the lead for 10 days in his first Giro last year. Later the Russian claimed his first classic win in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race and he underlined his potential on the fourth day of the Giro with a solo victory at Campitello Matese to become race leader. It was not until he beat Indurain in the Spaniard's speciality, the time trial, at Follonica, that Bombini switched his tactics. Now the team were riding for Berzin. "Three-quarters of that leader's pink jersey belongs to Argentin," said Davide Boifava, manager of second-placed Marco Pantani. That was after a torturous day in the mountains when Argentin kept Berzin safe as the Russian had done for him a year before.