Ballan wins Giro della Toscana
By Cycling News
BMC Italian too fast for breakaway companions
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."
1 | Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team | 5:09:51 |
2 | Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Acqua & Sapone | |
3 | Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
4 | Matej Mugerli (Slo) Adria Mobil | |
5 | Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:00:04 |
6 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Team Idea | 0:00:09 |
7 | Sergey Klimov (Rus) RusVelo | 0:00:18 |
8 | Marko Kump (Slo) Adria Mobil | |
9 | Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
10 | Elia Favilli (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
11 | Stefano Agostini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
12 | Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
13 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
14 | Nikita Eskov (Rus) RusVelo | |
15 | Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
16 | Yoeri Havik (Ned) Netherlands | |
17 | Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
18 | Frederico Rocchetti (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
19 | Ruslan Karimov (Uzb) Team Idea | |
20 | Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
21 | Mariano Giallorenzo (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
22 | Fabio Taborre (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
23 | Davide Mucelli (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
24 | Patxi Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Utensilnord Named | |
25 | Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
26 | Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
27 | Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) Acqua & Sapone | |
28 | Marco Pinotti (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
29 | Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo | |
30 | Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Team Idea | |
31 | Matej Gnezda (Slo) Adria Mobil | |
32 | Massimo Codol (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
33 | Sergey Firsanov (Rus) RusVelo | |
34 | Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) RusVelo | |
35 | Javier Gonzalez Barrera (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
36 | Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
37 | Stefano Locatelli (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
38 | Tomaz Nose (Slo) Adria Mobil | |
39 | Kristjan Fajt (Slo) Adria Mobil | |
40 | Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Adria Mobil | |
41 | Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
42 | Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
43 | Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
44 | Radoslav Rogina (Cro) Adria Mobil | |
45 | Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | 0:00:35 |
46 | Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
47 | Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Pol) Amore & Vita | 0:01:00 |
48 | Derk Abel Beckeringh (Ned) Netherlands | 0:01:32 |
49 | Thimothy Roe (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:37 |
50 | Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
51 | Simon Pavlin (Slo) Adria Mobil | |
52 | Krisztian Lovassy (Hun) Hungary | |
53 | Federico Canuti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
54 | Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
55 | Paolo Bailetti (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
56 | Mike Teunissen (Ned) Netherlands | |
57 | Mike Terpstra (Ned) Netherlands | |
58 | Yovcho Yovchev (Bul) Amore & Vita | |
59 | Marino Palandri (Ita) Amore & Vita | |
60 | Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
61 | Mats Boeve (Ned) Netherlands | |
62 | Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli | |
63 | Andrea Palini (Ita) Team Idea | |
64 | Francesco Failli (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
65 | Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
66 | Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | 0:05:24 |
67 | Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
68 | Giuseppe De Maria (Ita) Team Idea | |
69 | Angelo Pagani (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
70 | Alberto Di Lorenzo (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
71 | Blaz Bonca (Slo) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
DNF | Maksym Averin (Ukr) Amore & Vita | |
DNF | Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Amore & Vita | |
DNF | Patrik Moren (Swe) Amore & Vita | |
DNF | Niv Libner (Isr) Amore & Vita | |
DNF | Uri Martins (Mex) Amore & Vita | |
DNF | Bendeguz Bernard (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Peter Simon (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Istvan Cziraki (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Istvan Molnar (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Maté Radonics (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Marton Solymosi (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Zoltan Vigh (Hun) Hungary | |
DNF | Enrico Rossi (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
DNF | Roberto Cesaro (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
DNF | David John McLean (GBr) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
DNF | Luka Grubic (Cro) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
DNF | Wouter Wippert (Ned) Netherlands | |
DNF | Kay Welten (Ned) Netherlands | |
DNF | Gijs Strating (Ned) Netherlands | |
DNF | Simone Boifava (Ita) Team Idea | |
DNF | Luca Dodi (Ita) Team Idea | |
DNF | Aristide Ratti (Ita) Team Idea | |
DNF | Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC Racing Team | |
DNF | Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
DNF | Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
DNF | Paolo Ciavatta (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
DNF | Simone Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
DNF | Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
DNF | Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
DNF | Omar Lombardi (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
DNF | Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Jonathan Monsalve (Ven) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Miguel Ubeto Aponte (Ven) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Salvatore Mancuso (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Matvey Zubov (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
DNF | Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
DNF | Franck Osorio (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
DNF | Oleg Berdos (Mda) Utensilnord Named | |
DNF | Sergio Lagana (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
DNF | Fabio Piscopiello (Ita) Utensilnord Named |
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