Greg Van Avermaet was outnumbered in the finale (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) seems to be enjoying the European spring with the Belgian adding to his recent win at Paris - Tours, with a second place in the Italian classic, Giro del Piemonte.
Despite BMC having superior numbers in the crucial 11-man selection, Van Avermaet became isolated when teammates Mathias Frank and Ivan Santaromita faded in the final 10 kilometres. Luca Paolini (Katusha) and Daniel Moreno (Katusha) then worked successfully to prevent the Belgian taking his second win in less than a week.
"Paolini left a gap to Moreno on the last descent to the finish," Van Avermaet said. "[Vincenzo] Nibali tried to close the gap and with 400 meters to go I went full out, but it was too far and I couldn't close the gap."
Having struggled to find his feet with the BMC team in 2011, the 26-year-old has finally been finding his straps of late, and believes that given the right circumstances a good result at Lombardia could well be within his grasp.
"I don't know [how well I can go there]," Van Avermaet said. "First, I want to try and recover from today. Lombardia is normally too hard for me. But with this condition, you never know."
