Scarponi wins Giro del Trentino

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Roman Kreuziger (Astana) won the final stage of the Giro del Trentino, outsprinting breakaway companion Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) on the mountaintop finish in Madonna di Campiglio. Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack), also part of the winning break, was gapped in the finale of the 14km climb to the finish and finished third, eight seconds off the pace.

It was the first victory in more than a year for the 24-year-old Czech and a morale boost in advance of the Giro d'Italia. "Maybe victory came by accident but I don’t care and I feel happy for myself and the whole team," said Kreuziger. "After Paris-Nice I was not in the action anymore, I needed to keep competition’s pace. Now I feel confident to get started at the Giro d’Italia, having a team able to support me at their best when the time to climb comes."

Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) led in the chase group 24 seconds later for fourth place that also contained the general classification contenders: overnight leader Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) along with Tiago Machado (RadioShack) and Luca Ascani (d'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo), second and third respectively entering the stage.

Scarponi held a narrow seven-second lead over Machado and a 33-second advantage over Ascani, but the Italian ably defended his lead on the category one ascent to the finish to win the 35th edition of the Giro del Trentino. The final general classification standings among the top three remained unchanged at the stage's conclusion.

"My aim in the Giro del Trentino was to test my fitness approaching the Giro d'Italia," said Scarponi. "I think that I'm good and the victory in the overall standings indicates a consistency in good performance.

"I'm also happy because I found confirmation that my teammates are strong and that they can face every kind of situation in the best way."

Czechs love the long break

The winning break attacked early in the 161.5km stage from Andalo to Madonna di Campiglio with three riders going out on the offensive: Roman Kreuziger (Astana), Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) and Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack). This trio was soon joined by Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) and Sella's teammate Angel Vicioso to form the stage's decisive escape.

The quintet quickly extended their lead to a maximum of 5:40, but by the 80km mark it had stabilised at approximately 4:00. Kreuziger was the highest placed rider on general classification, in 24th at 3:00 down on Scarponi, so the Lampre-ISD team made sure the break was kept at a manageable distance.

Scarponi's Lampre-ISD team, however, was mindful of the 10, six and four-second time bonuses on tap at the finish line for the top three finishers and wouldn't mind having the break stay away through to the end, as long as Kreuziger didn't threaten for the leader's jersey.

Machado earned a time bonus with his second-place finish the previous day, and gapped Scarponi in the sprint as well, to move within seven seconds of the overall lead and the Italian didn't want a repeat of that today.

"As the five escapees went out, I felt it was a good news in order to avoid any risk because of the time bonifications. Obviously I had to keep Machado under control, but that was not a heavy task having such a strong team at my side," said Scarponi.

Lampre-ISD continued to keep a keen eye on the break's progress and the escapees reached the base of the 14km finishing climb with an advantage of 2:50. Vicioso and Montaguti were soon dropped, leaving Kreuziger, Sella and Popovych in the race lead.

With 9km remaining to the summit finish the gap was reduced to 2:15, but the chase effort momentarily sputtered and the lead trio pushed out their advantage to 3:00 with 5km to go.

Climbers Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox) and Alex Cano Ardila (Colombia Es Pasion-Cafe De Colombia) leapt from the peloton, however, which drew out the GC contenders in pursuit.

Pozzovivo, too, was a threat to Scarponi's GC hopes as he started the stage in fifth overall, 35 seconds down. Scarponi and nine others bridged to Pozzovivo and Ardila to neutralise the attack and their pace remained high through to the finish.

By the time the break passed under the flamme rouge marking 1km to go, their lead was reduced to 30 seconds.

The endgame worked out perfectly for Scarponi, though, as Kreuziger bested his two breakaway companions for the Czech's first victory in Astana colours while the race leader lost no time to his GC rivals to seal the overall victory.