Zamparella wins Memorial Marco Pantani

Image 1 of 12

Marco Zamparella (Amore & Vita-Selle SMP) claimed the 2017 Memorial Marco Pantani, winning a four-up sprint against Diego Ulissi (Italy) and the Androni-Giocattoli duo of Egan Bernal and Matteo Cattaneo. 

The Italian was part of an original two-man breakaway that opened up a lead of five minutes, but he dropped Sebastian Schönberger (Tirol Cycling Team) on the Montevecchio climb in the final 50km.

It was on the climb that Bernal, Cattaneo, and Ulissi escaped from the peloton, initially in a six-man move before the other three fell away under the Androni duo's impetus. 

They soon caught Zamparella and, despite Bahrain-Merida and Bora-Hansgrohe working in the peloton, their gap went up after the climb and stayed fairly steady thereafter. When they hit the finish line for four laps of a 5km finishing circuit, the gap was 1:35. 

On the final lap it was clear it was between those four. While Androni had the numerical advantage, and Ulissi - winner of the recent GP de Montreal - was the favourite on paper, it was Zamparella the underdog who was quickest, even after his day-long breakaway efforts, the 29-year-old claiming a famous win for his team. 

Full Results