The GP Industria & Artigianato saw Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) take out the victory after escaping on the races final climb. Davide Formolo, racing for the Italian national team, was 2nd while Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani – CSF Inox) rounded out the podium by taking 3rd place. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had Kristian Sbaragli cross the line just outside of the top 20 to provisionally be our highest placed finisher on the day.
The race was an aggressive encounter with numerous attacks throughout the day. The main break of the day consisted of 8 riders who would enjoy just under a 3 minute gap but who would also be reeled in with still over 60km to go. There were then countless attacks and counter attacks which would whittle the peloton down greatly, leaving just the strongest still in contention.
With 18km to go, a strong group of 27 riders went clear with Sbaragli in a group of 6, just 25″ behind the leading group. As the rain poured down, Sbaragli’s group was able to bridge to the leaders just before the final climb. It was on the climb though that the top 3 riders showed their strength to gap the rest of the group. With 5km’s to go, Yates, Formolo and Bongiorno had a 9″ lead on their chasers which was enough to decide the outcome of the race.
Rider – Kristian Sbaragli
Today the race was really hard with 4 ascents up a steep climb. I wanted to check what my condition was like and i felt some good sensations during the race. With 2 laps to go there was only 50 guys left, a split happened in the downhill so i had to try an close it. I just about closed the gap before the last climb but not 100% so i started the climb with a small distance and it was enough to make sure i didn’t finish with the front 20 guys. The race gave me some good confidence for my next appointment as this was my first race back after the break. Im not happy about the result but really happy with my shape.
Race Results
