The following year, again riding with Gewiss-Ballan, he won the Euskal Bizikleta, in Spain and finished second to Tony Rominger at the Giro d'Italia, winning the mountainous penultimate Stage 21.
On 19 October 1997, Berzin attempted to break the hour record in Bordeaux but he aborted the attempt after 17 minutes, being already too far from Chris Boardman's record.