Italian success in early season semi-Classic
Three weeks after his victory in the three-stage Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria, Lampre-ISD rider Daniele Pietropolli won a ten man sprint to take the Trofeo Laigueglia today. He beat Simone Ponzi (Liquigas-Cannondale), Angel Vicioso Arcos (Androni Giocattoli) and seven others to the line, with former world champion Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team) and Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) also part of the front group.
“Each year I was in the top positions of Trofeo Laigueglia, but I could never win: today the things changed,” a beaming Pietropolli said afterwards. “It was quite hard to win, because the race was tough and I had to give my best in order to join the head group at 1 km to go.
“Then I rested for a while, just before performing a great sprint. I think that the training on [Mount] Etna were very useful in order to improve my fitness. I hope that this magic moment [of form] can last very long.”
The race featured an early break out of which Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) and José Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua & Sapone) persisted until the final hour of racing.
After that, aggression from Basso and others splintered the peloton on the Paravenna ascent, leading to a selection of just under 40 riders. This was further thinned down by Basso and then Ballan, leading to the small group sprint at the end and Pietropolli’s victory.
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Trofeo Laigueglia, February 19:
1, Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre – ISD) 183.8 kilometres in 4 hours 42 mins 20 secs
2, Simone Ponzi (Liquigas-Cannondale)
3, Angel Vicioso Arcos (Androni Giocattoli)
4, Fabio Taborre (Acqua & Sapone)
5, Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team)
6, Fortunato Baliani (d’Angelo & Antenucci – Nippo)
7, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team)
8, Frédéric Amorison (Landbouwkrediet)
9, Paolo Ciavatta (Acqua & Sapone)
10, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale)
11, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 52 secs
12, Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre – ISD)
13, Ryan Anderson (Team Spidertech Powered By C10)
14, Jonathan Monsalve (Androni Giocattoli)
15, Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez (Miche)