Rebellin wins Coppa Agostoni

CCC Sprandi Polkowice's Davide Rebellin won the Coppa Agostoni-Giro delle Brianze on Wednesday in Lissone. The 44-year-old veteran racer beat his late-race breakaway companion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) to the finish line for the win. Lampre-Merida's Niccolo Bonifazio won the bunch sprint to the line for third.

"It was a big win for me, since it was achieved after very hard race," Rebellin said. "We attacked with Nibali and Scarponi and we were chased down by the peloton for nearly 50 kilometers in the flat terrain, which favors the bunch. I entered the final 2 kilometers together with Nibali and with 200 meters to go we began the sprint. Astana rider passed me at first, but I managed to sit on his wheel and overtake him 50 meters from the line. I'm very happy about that victory and I want to thank the entire team, which helped me to be in a position to win."

The UCI 1.1 Coppa Agostoni-Giro delle Brianze offered the peloton a nearly 200km race through the hills from Monza to Lissone, which included 10km finish circuits.

An early move set off with Giacomo Tomio (Roth Skoda), Davide Ballerini (Unieuro Wilier Trevigiani), Stefan Schumacher (CCC), Miguel Benito (Caja-Rural), Rafael Andriato (Southeast), Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Argon 18) and Gianfranco Zilioli (Androni-Giocatoli).

The breakaway riders managed to build a lead of two minutes over the field just 45km into the race. By the time they reached the 80km mark they had pushed their lead out to over four minutes.Their gap reduced to 1:45 and they were all reabsorbed into the field with some 45km to go.

The next riders to go were Nibali and his Astana teammate Michele Scarponi, and Rebellin with 40km remaining but their advantage only reached a maximum of 40 seconds with 25km to go.

The gap fell to a mere 14 seconds in the final five kilometres as Lampre-Merida led the pack in an effort to bring back the three escapees for their sprint duo Bonifazio and Sacha Modolo. They were unsuccessful in the chase as Rebellin went on to beat Nibali to the line for the victory, however, Bonifazio captured third in the bunch sprint.

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