An almost pan-flat parcour in Avezzano and it's definitely up to the sprinters to prove they're still capable of joining the mix for the overall win here in Italy.
Race-leader David Vitoria fooled the pure sprinters in the opener and aims for more points today.
Especially Claudio Cucinotta and Manuel Belletti have something to prove, as both were pointless in Teramo. Their compatriots Francesco Chicchi (5 pts) and Matteo Priamo (7) did fairly better, both look to catch up to Vitoria (19).
The first laps saw a group of 5 riders breaking clear, establishing a 1'10"-gap on the bunch:
Arnaud Grand (VW)
Nicola D'Andrea (ING)
Moris Possoni (Cisco)
George Alexandru Stancu (Eata)
and Maurizio Bellin (Idea)
With half of the laps being raced, those escapees face tough times, as their gap never really grew bigger.
And several more attacks made the lead melting down to 40" again. 3 riders try to jump behind:
Andrea Guardini (Farnese)
Dmitri Jiriakov (Colnago)
and yesterday's 8th Massimo Iannetti (ING)
Guardini is quite a surprise, as he's rated as Farnese's best sprinter..
..that may be the reason for the race becoming more and more chaotic, as the escapees would fear Guardini's speed.
More attacks lead to the early breakaway being caught and the chasing group struggling to work together as well.
Markus Eibegger (Vorarlberg) is next in the line to attack the bunch, soloing away with still 30km to go.
But he's also reeled in by the pack one lap later. And as no one else tried to attack, the situation remains the same til 12km to go.
Team WIT (Chicchi) and Amore&Vita (Cucinotta) lead the bunch just like they did in the opening race.
And here goes David Vitoria.. again! Also like in the opening race in Teramo, Vitoria attacks late in the race.
Today he's going solo though and 6km before finish, so earlier than his Metinvest-team did in Teramo. Does he fool the sprinters one more time?
We don't know yet.. he's accompanied by Simone Masciarelli (ING) and Paolo Longo Borghini (Italy) a few moments later, as the three established a 33"-gap quickly.
But maybe it's the rather flat profile or the sprinter-teams being aware of his tactics.. Vitoria and his companions are swallowed by the peloton with 2km to go anyway!
Amore&Vita set a train for Cucinotta, who know leaves Kristian Sbaragli's windstream with 800meters to go.
Also in the mix:
Cucinotta
Metinvest's duo Brambilla/Capecchi
Marino Prestia for Italy's U25-selection
Di Nucci (ING)
Ludescher (Vorarlberg)
and Mauro Facci (Farnese), who already scored some points in both races so far!
400 to go and it's head-to-head now, from left to right:
Capecchi - Di Nucci - Prestia - Cucinotta - Brambilla
Facci and Ludescher still within reach also.
And the winner is... Claudio Cucinotta! The veteran had the fastest finish and takes out this race in Avezzano.
Metinvest continues to score high, as Giorgi Brambilla takes the 2nd, ahead of Philipp Ludescher and teammate Eros Capecchi. It's a 2-4-10 for the team today, as David Vitoria scores one point to lose his GC-lead to Brambilla.
Marino Prestia, Daniele Di Nucci, Matteo Priamo, Stefano Boggia and Mauro Facci round out the Top-10.
Oh, and it's yet another 1-2-3 for Metinvest, as their trio leads the GC quite comfortable. Anyway, tomorrow's mountainous race may mix things up again.
David Vitoria fooled the pure sprinters in the opener and aims for more points today.
Claudio Cucinotta and Manuel Belletti have something to prove, as both were pointless in Teramo. Their compatriots Francesco Chicchi (5 pts) and Matteo Priamo (7) did fairly better, both look to catch up to Vitoria (19).
Philipp Ludescher
