Rabobank’s Robert Gesink proved to be the fastest of a small breakaway in the Giro dell’Emilia, Italy. He beat Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia-HTC) in the three-up sprint on the climb of San Luca. The fourth rider in the break, Alexander Vinokourov (Astana), lost contact in the last kilometer and was even passed by World Champion Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) for fourth place.
The break formed with two laps to go on the nine-kilometer finishing circuit, with San Luca to be climbed a total of five times. Entering the final lap, the lead was only 10 seconds, but the chasers around Evans lost more time and reached the finish 25 seconds after the winner.
The race celebrated its 100th year of existence with the break of the day forming after 40km, when Vladimir Duma (Ceramica Flaminia – Bossini Docce), Vitaly Kondrut (ISD Neri), Aristide Ratti (CarmioOro – A-Style) and Alain Van Der Velde (Centri della Calzatura) took off. They built a maximum lead of over nine minutes by kilometer 80.
Liquigas and Silence-Lotto started to work to reduce the gap. Over the KOM Monzuno, with Van Der Velde ahead of Kondrut and Ratti, the lead was still over six minutes.
First time up the hill the gap was down to 1’40 and the group reduced to three riders, as Duma was unable to hang on.
In the second lap the group was caught, though Ratti hung on with Eros Capecchi (Fuji-Servetto) for a little bit longer. Fuglsang was the first to go after the duo and caught them. The Dane was joined by Gesink, Lövkvist and Vinokourov with two laps to go.
The four entered the final lap with a slim 10-second lead and stayed away.