Basso solos to victory

Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) has won the GP Industrio Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese in his home province of Varese. The Giro d’Italia winner attacked 3km from the line to take victory on his training roads, 14 seconds clear of Giairo Ermeti (De Rosa). Daniele Colli (Flamina) took the sprint for third a further seven seconds back.

Uncharacteristically wet weather faced the 131 starters, who faced nine laps of the tricky circuit around the town of Carnago. After an early flurry of attacks, it was eventually Mariano Palandri (Adria Mobil) and Switzerland’s Fabien Wolf (Price Custom Bikes) who forced their way clear. The duo spent over 100km off the front and built up a lead of 5:27 at one stage before Liquigas set about reducing their advantage in the finale.

The testing conditions, allied to the climbs at Solbiate and Castelseprio, took their toll on the field, and when the early escapees were finally caught with two laps to go, just thirty-one riders remained in the race. On the last lap, a number of riders attempted to slip off the front, including Jackson Rodriguez (Androni), Aliaksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas) and Rafai Chtioui (Acqua & Sapone), but the race was ultimately decided on the final hill.

Daniele Colli opened up a gap the last time up the climb at Castelseprio and Basso immediately responded, catching and then dropping the Flaminia rider over the summit. Basso, who recently rode his first Tour de France since his involvement in Operacion Puerto in 2006, stretched out his advantage in the run-in to the finish in Carnago to take his fourth victory of the season. Giario Ermeti clipped off the front of the chase group for second, ahead of Colli and Jure Kocjan (Carmiooro).

Basso had particular motivation to take the win. “I often train on these roads,” he explained afterwards. “Today we passed in front of the Gornatese clubhouse, the club I rode for when I raced as a juvenile.” Basso’s career has scaled the heights and plumbed as many depths since then, but there was no doubting that he was a popular winner in Carnago.

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