Moldovian champion Tanovitchii is the first attacker of the race after a few km.
Together with Riutort and Formolo he forms the break of the day without much trouble.
The intermediate sprint goes uncontested to Fomolo followed by Tanovitchii and Riutort. The break have 2’35 to the peloton and 55 seconds to Ahmad Zamri who are trying to bridge the gap.
The Malaysian joins the trio in front with 92 km to go with the gap even growing to 4’30’’ along the way.
This time they sprint for the intermediate. Again with Formolo winning. Riutort second and Tanovitchii 3rd.
4’16 is the gap with 74 km to the finish line. Venchi – Ferranti, Jaguar – Eritel and Meiji – Cannondale seem to agree that the break have had its time in the spotlight and work together nicely cutting down the gap.
60 km and 3’29
50 km and 2’49
40 km and 2’31
Riutort takes the last intermediate ahead of Tanivitchii and Ahmad Zamri.
30 km and 1’47
25 km and 1’22
20 km and 1’07
15 km and 36 seconds.
Time for a bunch sprint it seems.
Just as the break is caught with 12 km to go Grau and Proni crashes and loses contact with the peloton.
With the speed getting cranked up ahead of the bunch sprint the duo doesn’t look to have much chance of regaining contact.
It’s Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo and Jaguar – Eritel calling the shots from the 10 km mark.
3,5 km to go and we have three trains right next to each other. Bennett, Nelson, Gatto and Aberasturi are the main names not quite up there at this point while Lo Cicero looks to be the best placed top sprinter.
2,6 km to the line and the situation is:
Nateghi
Mora
Modolo
Rizza
Lo Cicero
Granjal Cabrera
Vervaeke
Hutarovich
Van Avermaet
Vasylyuk
Matthews
Davis
Dowsett
Fröhlinger
Aberasturi
Tewelde
Bennett
Nelson
Gatto
Van Asbroek
Froome
With 2,1 km left Modolo starts his leadout for Lo Cicero Tewelde does a great job bringing Bennett back in contention.
1 km left and every main sprinter except Lo Cicero starts sprinting. Davis from a great position at the back of the Meiji – Cannondale train.
500 m left and its Lo Cicero in front looking sharp.
As expected an easy win for the Italian.
The fastest guy and the best train is a hard combo to beat…
Davis takes 2nd about a rims width ahead of Granjal Cabrera.
