Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) ended his recent string of DNFs with an impressive victory Wednesday at Milano-Torino, jumping away from Michael Woods to come out on top of a strategic two-man battle with the Cannondale-Drapac rider in the finale of the 186km Italian race. Wood's teammate, Rigoberto Uran, was third.
A three-man move of Eduard Grosu (Nippo Vini Fantini,) Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) animated the early racing, building an advantage of nearly nine minutes before the finale's hilly terrain and a concerted chase from Tinkoff, AG2R La Mondiale, Trek-Segafredo, Bardiani CSF and Cannondale-Drapac had them in their sight as they approached the penultimate climb.
Kennaugh went clear, but his solo effort was doomed as Trek-Segafredo pushed the pace up the final climb, eventually setting up an attack from Woods, which Lopez quickly marked. The Colombian then dropped Woods in the final 500 metres to solo across the line. It was a banner day for Lopez, who had failed to finish four one-day Italian races in the past seven days.
