Italy's Ricco eyes hat-trick

By Francois Thomazeau

PAU, France (Reuters) - With two stage wins under his belt in a Tour de France he was not scheduled to enter, Riccardo Ricco should be satisfied.

But the Italian said on Tuesday he was hungry for more and has set his sights on the famed l'Alpe d'Huez climb for a hat-trick.

"It would be great of course to win the Italian stage," said the Saunier-Duval rider about next Sunday's 15th stage to the ski resort of Prato Nevoso.

"But it would be even greater to win at l'Alpe d'Huez," he told a media conference, looking further ahead to July 23.

Ricco, runner-up in the Giro d'Italia, won in Super-Besse and Bagnores-de-Bigorre while his team mate Leonardo Piepoli grabbed the glory in Hautacam for a clean sweep of the three mountain stages in the Tour so far.

But the l'Alpe d'Huez finish has a special significance for Italians like Ricco, whose climbing style looks like a carbon copy of that of Marco Pantani, his compatriot and idol.

Pantani, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2004, won twice at l'Alpe d'Huez in 1995 and 1997 and still holds the record for the fastest climb.

The great Italian rider Fausto Coppi was the first man crowned in the ski resort in 1952 and Italians have won six of the last 11 stage finishes there.