admirschleck wrote:
Ian Butler - Thanks man!
Avin Wargunnson - Thanks for that,really apperciate. Probably youngest and most talented team in peloton.

Team's plan

For the first race of year, we won't aim for something big. Top10 should be really good , but nothing below that won't be disappointing. We got deal in bus that we won't send anyone in breakaway, and we won't chase so we would have more power and time to focus on brining our race leader , Jan Polanc into best position. We're ready!

Startlist

Great day for ride today , sunny but fresh enough for perfect conditions. Atmosphere between our riders is great as always, and we're ready for race starting.

As that's usual on 1-day classics , morning breakaway was sucessful one. Some solid names in it. No favourites, but peloton could not relax at any moment, since most of these guys are fighters. Wetterhall, Vanendert , Janiszewski , Baldo, Roulston and Ravard were guys in first group.



Almost 3/4 of the race passed without any attack, so it was pretty boring race to watch. We were steady, waiting for our chance. And just when everyone thought this is going to finish in mass sprint, ex- World Champ , Alessandro Ballan decided to give a try, 25 kilometers before finish line.



Meanwhile , Lampre riders were giving their all to catch this, and somehow tries to finish this in mass sprint, where they have big advantage called Palini.
Alessandro quickly caught morning breakaway, and decided to relay with them , in order to save some energy for few final kilometers. Of course ,as an Italian , when he saw that guys at front are weak, and could not keep his rhytm , Ballan attacked first group. Now , it's peloton vs Ballan. We're entering last kilometer, BMC rider still has advantage, but that's just 20 meters. Can he push hardly last 1000 meters and get this win?



Is that black and pink jersey in background? Is that Jan Polanc? Oh , yes. What a great tactic from our rider. He is still there, this will be very interesting!

Taborre was the fastest guy behind Ballan,and he almost outsprinted him. Main word is almost. Ballan , with huge pain on his face, without even raising his hands to celebrate , getting win on Trofeo Laigueglia 2013.



Jan Polanc is somewhere on top of the group, but we still can't see him... Oh yes, there he is, wow, that's something in TOP10 , for sure. We're not sure, so let's check official results.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alessandro Ballan	BMC Racing Team	5h05'56
2	Fabio Taborre	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	s.t.
3	Daniele Pietropolli	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
4	Andrea Palini	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
5	Jan Polanc	Radenska	s.t.
6	Björn Leukemans	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Sergey Lagutin	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez	Ag2r - La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Valerio Agnoli	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10	Mauro Santambrogio	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	s.t.

Post-race comment

Such a great race for us. Awesome TOP5 for Jan, and 1 sponsor goal (getting TOP10 in Trofeo Laigueglia) is achieved. 1/1.

See ya soon!