Gaggioli Thrives in the Heat

Philadelphia, USA, June 19, 1988

1988 Champion: Roberto Gaggioli (Ita) 251 kms (156 miles) in 6h17’32” (40.19 km/h)
1988 US National Champion: (3rd) Ron Keifel (USA)

The Fourth Annual CoreStates USPRO Championships greeted the riders with 90 plus degrees of temperature and extreme humidity.  The brutal heat and humidity, not uncommon for a June day in Philly, added to the already tough parcours of the Philadelphia race course. 

At the start the attention was on Andy Hampsten the recently crowned champion of the Giro d’Italia and his powerful 7-Eleven team. From the snow storm on the Passo di Gavia to the tropical heat of Philadelphia, Hampsten and 7-Eleven were in for a long hot day in the saddle.

Pre-race predictions had 7-Eleven waltzing to the victory, but several other contenders had other ideas.  Aggressively Mike Engleman of the Wheaties/Schwinn team went off solo on the first lap.  He rolled across the start-finish line after two laps with nearly a two minute lead.  Riding smoothly he opened the gap to ten minutes.  A concerned 7-Eleven started to chase.  The increased speed of the peloton took four minutes back on Engleman by the end of lap 5.  Steadily over the next two laps the race came back together. 

The chase led by 7-Eleven delivered two rider to the breakaway

(R to L) Marcussen, Gaggioli, Laurentzen, Kiefel, and Trinkler

The torrid pace and the sweltering heat saw the team tents in the feed zone filling up fast with abandoned riders.  The powerful 7-Eleven team was weakened when 1985 champion Eric Heiden, Chris Carmichael and Roy Knickman abandoned the race.  But Ron Keifel soldiered on and answered the attack of Richard Trinkler (Sui) Weinmann/La Suisse with three large laps to go. 

Jorgen Marcussen (Den) bridged the gap on the eighth lap.  Roberto Gaggioli (Ita) and 7-Eleven’s Dag-Otto Lauritzen (Nor) were not far behind as a solid breakaway came together. 

As the breakaway came into the finish laps the group exploded under the pressure of a Gaggioli attack.  Lauritzen powered up to the Italian while the other three faded in the heat. 

Lauritzen knew Gaggioli was the superior sprinter and tried everything to drop the Italian.  Gaggioli answered every move.  As the breakaway rounded the traffic circle at Logan Square and headed down the final 600 meters the race came to a crawl.  Reaching his trigger point Roberto Gaggioli fired off to the left side of the road and crossed the finish line for the victory.

Roberto Gaggioli sprinted past Dag-Otto Laurentzen for the victory

Finishing third Ron Keifel, the first US rider, was awarded the Stars and Stripes jersey as National Champion.

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