Uran wins Gran Piemonte

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Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) won the Gran Piemonte race in Italy with a late attack that allowed him to cross the line alone and savour his second victory of 2012.

Uran surged clear with Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskaltel) on the last climb of the race but dropped the Basque rider to win by six seconds. Luca Paolini (Katusha Team) also caught and beat Verdugo to take second, with Uran's teammate and compatriot Sergio Henao finishing fourth.

Uran won a stage at the Volta a Catalunya in the spring and won the best young rider's white jersey at the Giro d'Italia. However he's better remembered for finishing second behind Alexandre Vinokourov in the Olympic road race in August. He dismissed the idea that this win was revenge for missing out on a gold medal.

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“All the races are important and I always respect them. Then, you know, winning is always very complicated and this is why I believe it's very important and beautiful when you achieve a victory,” he said in the winner's press conference.

“Along with Sergio [Henao], we tried to attack on the final lap before the finish. I was able to get away with Verdugo over the top of the climb but we did not have a big gap to the riders behind. We managed to stay clear and we gave it everything on the descent back to the finish. We agreed to collaborate until 500 metres to go. We saw that Paolini was coming towards us and he’s very fast. So at 300 metres to go, when I saw him getting closer, I sprinted."

Uran showed that he is on form after riding the Vuelta a Espana and will lead Team Sky at Il Lombardia on Saturday.

“I have come out of the Vuelta with some really good fitness. The world championships was some good preparation looking ahead towards Lombardy and today was also another good warm-up. I really like the race and I and very motivated for Saturday,” he said.

Paolini had to be content with second place. He was part of the attack that formed on the second climb to Favaro along with Uran, Verdugo, Henao, Carlos Betancur (Acqua&Sapone) and Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing Team). However, Verdugo blew the group apart with an attack and Uran was able to get across to him before going clear to win.

"I'm satisfied with my performance," said Paolini. "I missed the win and I'm a little disappointed about that, but it's still a good result and my form is pretty good. I thought I had good chance to win in a sprint, but Uran did a great attack. We tried to chase him but he was already too far. At that point I decided to fight for second place and I managed to get it."