Cunego ends winless streak in Sardinia

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After enduring a frustrating, winless season last year, Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) opened his account for the 2011 campaign with a fine victory on stage two of the Giro di Sardegna. The former Giro d’Italia winner had too much for Androni Giocattoli duo José Serpa and Emanuele Serpa in the uphill sprint to the line in Nuoro.

It was the Cunego’s first victory since he took a stage of the Vuelta a España in September 2009, and his relief was palpable as he crossed the line. He timed his finishing effort to perfection, careening out of the final corner ahead of Serpa and opening a healthy margin before crossing the line.

“It was really a beautiful day,” said Cunego, who also took over the race lead from Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale). “I’m not underestimating my adversaries or the route, but we’ll look to defend this jersey.”

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Cunego’s Lampre-ISD stablemate Michele Scarponi worked hard in a tough finale and he explained that the finish was ideally suited to his colleague. “We agreed that if we came to the finish in a small group we’d work for Damiano, and that’s how it panned out,” he said.

The early action came courtesy of a lengthy break featuring Mikhail Ignatiev (Team Katusha), David Boily (Team Spidertech), Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli), Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini–Neri Sottoli) and Alessandro Malaguti (Ora Hotels–Carrera). They gained a maximum lead of seven minutes, but the group began to fragment as the 197km over rugged terrain began to take its toll.

De Marchi was the last survivor out front, but with Liquigas-Cannondale forcing the pace in the service of overall leader Peter Sagan, he was all too aware that his was a beaten docket.

When was captured inside the final 5km, a number of riders tried their luck off the front. Ireland's Philip Deignan (RadioShack) joined forces with Stefano Pirazzi (CSF-Colnago) in a bid to outfox the peloton, but they were pegged back. A dangerous move then went clear containing Serpa and Sella, as well as Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), but the pace was still high as the bunch hit the climb of Monte Ortobene.

Coming under the red kite, a five-man group including race leader Sagan and the dangerous Cunego managed to bridge to the leaders. On the drag to the line, Capecchi opened the sprint for Sagan but it was Cunego and not the Slovak who blasted past him 200 metres from home to find that elusive win.

In the general classification, the Italian moves ahead of Sagan, who had no answer in the finale and finished fourth. While the leader’s jersey sits on the Cunego’s shoulders for now, the liberating effect of breaking his winless streak will be of much further-reaching importance in the context of his season.