Lead man Trenti is up front about role in Tour

LES ESSARTS, France -- Belgian Tom Boonen pumped his muscular arms and pointed to himself in the classic sprinter's it's-all-about-me pose yesterday after rocketing past two other riders in the final frantic yards to win Stage 2 of the Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong stayed out of danger, finishing 63d, but in the same time as Boonen to retain second place overall, just two seconds behind American David Zabriskie, who retained the yellow jersey.

A short distance in back of Boonen, ignored in the blurry rainbow stream of riders gliding across the finish line, another man in a blue-and-white Quick Step team jersey raised his arms in an echo of Boonen's celebration.

Behind every great sprinter is an often unheralded lead-out man or two. Like a lead blocker in football, their job is to find the right openings, protect the speeding star from jostling, and eventually slingshot him to the front -- all at high speed in extremely close quarters.

Boonen now has at his service one of the best in the business: Guido Trenti, who has raced for the United States in the last three world championships and was Boonen's flying wedge for the last half-mile yesterday.

Forgive yourself if you haven't heard of him. Trenti, 32, holds dual Italian and US citizenship and a US cycling license. His mother, Cynthia Taylor, grew up in Amherst, Mass., and fell in love with her husband-to-be, Enzo, when she went to Italy at 19 to work as an au pair.

Trenti visited the US only briefly as a child and doesn't speak English, which his mother attributes to his hardheadedness. That tenaciousness has been useful over the course of a 10-year professional career in which he has worked for top sprinters like Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi.

That and something else. Taylor, who gave her oldest son her red hair and freckles, made roast turkey at Christmas and tried to inculcate some American values even if the language didn't take.

''I raised him differently from the way Italian boys are raised," said Taylor from her home in Dro, Italy, near Lake Garda. ''We're stricter. He's not one of those kids who calls Mama all the time. He's independent. We're close, and we don't have any secrets, but he has his life and I have mine."

Trenti began riding as a 6- or 7-year-old for the municipal club run by his father, a retired teacher who was an amateur cyclist.

This is his first Tour de France, although he has raced frequently in the Tour of Italy and Tour of Spain. Petacchi heaped praise on him after Trenti, then with the Fassa Bortolo team, picked himself up after a hard crash and led out Petacchi for a stage win in bloodied shorts.

Trenti accelerated so hard with Petacchi on his wheel that the sprinter said, ''I didn't think I'd get past him."

The Tour de France, however, has an entirely different feel and set of pressures.

''The quality of cycling here is high," Trenti said. ''I hope I can do a good Tour and ride well for Tom and help him win a stage." He shares the lead-out chores with Stefano Zanini.

Although he usually puts his own ambitions second, Trenti has won a couple of races. He was the first US rider to win a stage of the Tour of Spain in 2001, taking off in an 11-man breakaway and winning the final sprint. He dedicated the win to his paternal grandmother, who had just died.

''We refused to let him come to the funeral," his mother said. ''He was of no use to his grandmother there."

Trenti was the top US finisher -- 16th -- in the road race at the 2002 world championships. His selection created some controversy in cycling circles because of his background. But his roommate at the event, US sprinter Freddie Rodriguez, said he supported it completely.

Rodriguez may be a bit biased, since Trenti is his lead-out man at the worlds.

''He's a strong worker, a super-fast rider, capable of winning races himself," Rodriguez said. ''But he's comfortable taking that position as second in command, basically being a pilot for a sprinter -- what I'm doing for Robbie [McEwen] here.

''It takes a sprinter to lead out a sprinter sometimes, and that's what Guido does. He has one of the best sprinters in the world to help out, too, and that's why he was hired at Quick Step, for that talent."