Giro della Romagna: Christian Scaroni solos to victory

Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) claimed his fifth victory of the season at the Giro della Romagna after a solo attack on the final climb on Sunday.

Crossing the line 51 seconds later, Iván Cobo (Equipo Kern Pharma) secured second while Scaroni’s teammate Simone Velasco took the field sprint for third place.

All eyes were on XDS-Astana, the only WorldTour team at the men’s 1.1 one-day Italian race and the team delivered on the hilly 197.4km course with 2300m of elevation gain. Following a flat opening, the riders tackled a 17.5km circuit repeated seven times, featuring two climbs: the hairpin bends of Volture di Romagna (1.95km at 5.4%) and the Via del Tesoro (2km at 4.3%).

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“We planned to race strongly, knowing that everyone would be watching us and that we needed to control the race from start to finish. I want to thank my teammates for an incredible day. Everything worked out well for us. First, Simone [Velasco] attacked, and then, with two laps to go, I made my move. I also want to thank Diego [Ulissi] for sacrificing his own chances but doing a tremendous job on the first part of the climb, which allowed me to attack,” Scaroni said in a team release.

“In the final kilometres, I gave everything to maintain my advantage and win. I believe my form is at a high level right now. There are still two weeks to go until the European Championships, and I want to prepare for it as best as I can.”

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