Voeckler takes victory in Ledro Bezzecca

Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) took his sixth victory of the season on stage two of the Giro del Trentino, while Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) demonstrated that his form remains intact after spell of altitude training by moving into the overall lead.

When Voeckler attacked on the final climb, Scarponi was quick to follow and the duo finished 26 seconds clear of a select chase group that was driven largely by Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale). In the finishing straight, Voeckler’s speed proved to be too much for Scarponi, but the Italian was able to content himself with the overall lead, 14 seconds ahead of RadioShack’s Tiago Machado.

Scarponi’s teammate Przemyslaw Niemec led the chasing group to take third place, while Nibali rolled home in 9th place in the same time.

After launching his attack 7km from the line, Thomas Voeckler explained that he was careful to ensure that he had enough left in his legs to take the win.

“I turned around and I saw Scarponi, so I slowed and waited, and then we went away together,” Voeckler said. “He was riding for the classification, and I saved myself for the sprint.”

For his part, Scarponi admitted that when he Voeckler made his move with 7km to go, it was a case of following the right man at the right time.

“30km from the finish, I went up to Voeckler and said ‘you’ll win today.’ He thought I was joking, but I was convinced,” Scarponi said. “So, knowing that he would win, I looked to respond to his attack. I knew that the final 5km were flat, so a small advantage on the climb was going to be enough to hold on to the finish.”

Klöden cracks on final climb

The early part of the stage was dominated by a four-man breakaway featuring Yuriy Krivstov (AG2R La Mondiale), Giuseppe de Maria (De Rosa–Ceramica Flaminia), Volodymyr Zagorodny (Miche) and Davide Torosantucci (D’Angelo & Antenucci), but they were closely marshalled by the bunch behind.

The quartet had two minutes in hand 20km to go but as the road began to pitch upwards towards the finish, the main favourites massed at the head of the peloton and the gap dropped accordingly. Torosantucci opted to try his luck alone in the finale, and he was the last of the group to be swallowed up inside the final ten kilometres.

Meanwhile, the increase in pace in the main peloton was beginning to take its toll on a climb that proved to be more testing than the stage profile suggested. While Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD), second overall after stage one, was expected to struggle, it was surprising to see race leader Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) go out the back as the road pitched upwards on the drag to Ledro Bezzecca.

When Voeckler made his move 7km from the line, he was soon joined by Scarponi, who was determined to make amends for a non-descript showing in the previous day’s time trial. Both riders with naturally aggressive instincts, the Franco-Italian tandem reached an instant understanding, and they worked well to open an advantage of half a minute on the approach to the finish.

When the road flattened out in the final five kilometres, Vincenzo Nibali came to the front in person to close the gap to the dangerous Scarponi, but in spite of his best efforts, he was unable to make significant inroads on their lead. Up front the impressive Voeckler was dominant in the sprint, but Scarponi will have been content with a day's work that saw him lay down an important psychological marker against one of his major rivals.

As ever, the Giro del Trentino provides a fascinating dress rehearsal for the Giro d’Italia, and after fluffing his lines in the opening time trial, Scarponi took centre stage on day two. But with summit finishes at Fai della Paganella and Madonna di Campiglio to come, Nibali still has a chance to make his pitch to be Italy’s leading man ahead of the corsa rosa.

“Aside from the duel between me and Nibali, for me it’s important to verify my form,” Scarponi said. “Trentino is an important test, decisive in view of the Giro d’Italia.”

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