A strong morning break got away early, containing A. Kvachuk,
T. Peterson and A. Losada. In the pack, Sky had to use up many riders, to keep the breakaway in a short distance.



But as almost usual, the breakaway got caught again. And with only a couple of kilometres to go, a strong sidewind almost broke up the pack, with several riders being unable to follow the pace.



But when getting near the city, the winds calmed down, and Puccio, Thomas and Swift formed a sprint train. Puccio did his best to keep up the pace, even though of the hard work he had done all day through. Meanwhile Saxo's Boaro had slipped away solo.



Puccio delivered Thomas perfectly with Swift in his wheel. Boaro rode under la flamme rouge alone, but he seemed to had run dry on energy when Swift tried his luck outside the one kilometre banner.



But something went completely wrong for Swift. He may have started way too early and therefore got thrown back at 11th place, starting as undisputed favorite. Florencio was the one who took the win, completing his score to 1st-2nd-1st at the Trittico Regione Lombardia.

1	Xavier Florencio	Katusha Team	4h55'22
2	Marco Zanotti	Utensilnord Named	s.t.
3	Blel Kadri	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
4	Carlos Betancur	Acqua & Sapone	s.t.
5	Linus Gerdemann	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
6	Matteo Rabottini	Farnese Vini - Selle Italia	s.t.
7	Alessandro Bazzana	Team Type 1 - Sanofi	s.t.
8	Raymond Kreder	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
9	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
10	Fabio Taborre	Acqua & Sapone	s.t.
...
49	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	s.t.

The strong winds made the race very hard for me and everyone who worked at the front. I did my job as it was planned, and Thomas got to the front at the exact right time. But there was some headwind at the finish lane, which probably was the reason that many of the riders at the back, reached Swift and the other front riders.

The Trittico Regione Lombardia is over now, and it has been a real pleasure to ride here in my native country in such important races. My next race will be the Vattenfall Cyclassics, another WT race that i am looking very much forward to, and a great opportunity to bring home some important experience.

Thanks guys It feels nice to be back again, and i've really missed following Puccio's development and efforts. Todays stage wasn't the best for the team, but everyone worked their asses off, so you can't blame their perfomances. It was all about timing in the wind

I hope you like the new pre-race layout which has changed just a little. I'll keep it for now, and if i feel it doesn't work out, i'll find something new.

My long break from racing has payed well off. I've had time to recover and rebuild my muscles and i can feel the improvement i have gone through this year. I have already developed much, but i seem to do better and better as i ride along in the tons of prestigious races i've had the opportunity to ride. The fact that my contract situation is becoming more and more clear, surely also plays a factor in my development, making me focused in training and race-situations.

From my last update in May, i've yet again delveloped in the hills and stamina, making my chances in hilly one day classics much better. I've also trained a lot in the mountains, trying to get more used to the thin air at the tops, which have made my climbing ability a lot better.

The first serious attack came with 30 km to the finish. Olympic Champion Vinokourov went solo and immediatly passed what was left of the morningbreak. Even though it looked to work well for the Kazakh, too many teams wanted a mass sprint, and he was therefore caught again with 18 kilometres to go.


Almost awaiting for him to attack, Cancellara got off with only 12 km to the finish line. By following Russian Ignatiev, he quickly created a fine gap and suddenly looked to be a great threat to the sprinters. Especially Liquigas and Sky did all thy could to bring him back again.


Together they brought him back and the sprinters could take over. Even though of a promising leadout train, Sky's Swift had to ride the sprint himself, due to being blocked at the end. Sagan won comfortably ahead of Gasparotto and Boonen, while Swift came in at 9th. Surprisingly Puccio finished 12th, by clinching on to wheel from wheel.

1	Peter Sagan	Liquigas - Cannondale	5h24'45
2	Enrico Gasparotto	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
3	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
4	Grega Bole	Lampre - ISD	s.t.
5	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
6	Romain Feillu	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
7	André Schulze	Team NetApp	s.t.
8	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol Team	s.t.
9	Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	s.t.
10	Bert De Backer	Team Argos - Shimano	s.t.
...
12	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	s.t.

It was a chaotic sprint since the real sprinters had to fight extra hard for it this time. The final hill really made a lot of the bigger guys suffer, and with the attack of Cancellara right after, it just got even worse. Therefore i was able to follow some of the big guns today, because finishing 12th in a quite regular sprint like this, is really something i didn't expect.

I'm feeling better and better on the bike, and comming up next is the Tour of Denmark, which is going to be my second last stage race this year. I'm really looking forward to it. See you there!