Ballan wins Giro della Toscana

Alessandro Ballan (BMC) received a boost to his morale six days prior to the Giro d'Italia with a win at the Giro della Toscana. The 32-year-old Italian hadn't won a road race since the 2009 Tour of Poland, but the drought ended today with his victory from a breakaway. Carlos Betancur (Acqua & Sapone) finished second with Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Cannondale) in third for the 199km race.

"I was feeling good and we had a very strong team here today," Ballan said. "When we went over the major climb of the day [with 55km to go], I think we had seven guys in the lead group of 40."

Early in the race Ballan's teammates Adam Blythe and Taylor Phinney combined to help bring back a two-man breakaway that at one point enjoyed a 12-minute lead. After the peloton was whittled down to fewer than four dozen riders over the major climb, Ballan and teammates Mathias Frank, Tim Roe and Ivan Santaromita were part of a group of 12 that gained more than a minute's lead heading toward the first of two laps of the finishing circuits.

"I thought the race was going to go there but Farnese-Vini, even though they had a guy in the group, pulled it back," said Max Sciandri, BMC assistant director Max Sciandri. "Our team did an incredible job today. The plan was to race for Mauro Santambrogio (runner-up here a year ago), keeping Mathias in mind and having Ballan and Marco Pinotti as wild cards. But with 20 kilometers to go, Ballan came to me and said he was feeling good today."