Yesterday Alessandro Petacchi (Omega Pharma – QuickStep) won the GP Cerami from a mass sprint. The Italian sprint veteran was able to hold off Jonas Vangenechten (Lotto-Belisol) and Daniele Colli (Neri-Sottoli) in the charge to the line. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had its own Italian sprinter in the mix with Kristian Sbaragli netting 10th place on the day, an impressive result for Sbaragli after coming back from illness.
For the better part of the 200km route, 2 riders, Angelo Pagani (Bardiani) and Giorgio Cecchinel (Neri-Sottoli) would lead the race. The duo were able to get just over 8 minutes on the peleton but the nature of the course suited the sprinters and they would easily be reeled in before the finish. A 12 rider group would also go clear with 50km to go but they too were brought back by the peleton to set up the sprint.
Rider – Kristian Sbaragli
The sprint was a bit chaotic. I thought that the race would be harder but we arrived at the sprint finish with 160 riders in the bunch. I was a bit far behind the top 5 positions with 600m to go so i couldnt sprint for the top 5 or podium but we will try again next time.
Directuer Sportif – Jens Zemke
It was a pretty uneventful race to be honest. Everybody was just waiting for the bunch sprint, sometimes that happens though.
Race Results
GP Cerami (Belgium) – (12 April/ UCI 1.1) Team Lineup
Staff: Jens Zemke (Directeur Sportif), Hagen Bernutz (Soigneur), Jim Bryan (Mechanic), Daniele Nieri (Mechanic), Stevie Christaens (Mechanic)
