Sagan sprints to Camaiore victory

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Peter Sagan (Cannondale) continued his fine start to the season by sprinting to victory to win the G.P. Camaiore, beating Diego Ulissi (Lampre Merida) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale) into second and third.

A select twelve-man group formed on the final of six ascensions of Monte Pitoro, featuring Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Michele Scarponi (Lampre Merida) and Denis Menchov (Katusha), but they were unable to shake Sagan, and once Nibali’s attack on the descent was snuffed out, there was an air of inevitability about the finish.

Aided by teammate Moreno Moser, Sagan duly delivered in the sprint, powering away to claim a convincing win ahead of Ulissi and Nocentini. It was the Slovak’s third victory of 2013 and a start reminder of his abilities just over two weeks before Milan-San Remo.

“It was a win that had a great contribution from my teammates,” Sagan said afterwards. “I could feel my condition improve lap after lap, and I took some morale from that. When it all came back together on the last climb, Moser was exceptional in closing down the attacks and bringing it to a group finish,” Sagan said. “At that point, it came down to me to bring out my best and win.”

The race was illuminated early on by a break featuring Taylor Phinney (BMC), Stefano Agostini (Cannondale), Maxim Belkov (Katusha) and Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini Selle Italia and Pedro Paulinho (Ceramica Flaminia). They built up a lead of six minutes at one point, but the repeated climbs of Monte Pitoro took their toll and they were swept up after spending the opening 167 kilometres off the front of the bunch.

The stage was then set for a frenetic final lap, with Italian champion Franco Pellizotti (Androni-Venezuela) opening the attacking on Monte Pitone with a fierce attack. When he was brought to heel, Darwin Atampuma and Francesco Reda went on the offensive, but Cannondale’s Moreno Moser was active in tracking the moves, and ultimately Scarponi led Sagan, Stefano Garzelli (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) and a select leading group over the summit.

Andy Schleck (RadioShack Leopard) had been dropped by that point, but the Luxembourger did succeed in finishing his race, the first time he has done so since Liège-Bastogne-Liège last April.

With three wins under his belt already, Sagan is an early favourite to shine in the spring classics, but before that, he has another important Italian appointment on his agenda on Saturday at Strade Bianche.

“Camaiore was the right race to get back into my rhythm and improve my condition,” said Sagan. “I really like Strade Bianche and I’d like to get a good result there. It’s a special race, similar to a Belgian classic, and so you need a bit of luck to come through. I don’t want to raise expectations too much: we’ll see how I feel on Saturday and how the race pans out.”

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