Viviani sprints to victory at Donoratico
By Cycling News
Liquigas rider beats Modolo in Italian season-opener
Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) claimed his second successive GP Costa degli Etruschi victory by outsprinting Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF Bardiani) in a bunch finish in a frozen Donoratico, with Filippo Baggio (Utensilnord-Named) the best of the rest in third.
Viviani and Modolo enjoyed a number of sprint tussles on the domestic calendar last year, and their duel was always likely to decide the outcome of the traditional curtain opener to the Italian season, particularly given that Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) had insisted beforehand that he would not take any risks in the treacherous conditions.
Unsure of whether or not the wily Petacchi was bluffing, however, Viviani planted himself on his wheel in the finale. Although Petacchi was at the business end of affairs, he ultimately opted not to contest the sprint, and his reticence meant that Viviani was forced to change horses mid-course.
“I thought that Petacchi would be the man to beat and so I held his wheel from 3km to go until the last 300 metres,” Viviani said afterwards. “Seeing that he wasn’t going for it, I jumped onto Modolo’s wheel, because he was being led out. With 70 metres to go, I came around him.”
The win was Viviani’s second of the season, after he captured a stage victory at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina last week. For his rival Modolo, it was the first outing of the season, and his directeur sportif Roberto Reverberi was determined to focus on the positives.
“It was a beautiful sprint, uncertain right to the end, and Modolo jumped well with 200 metres to go,” Reverberi pointed out. “It’s a second place that augurs well.”
Extreme conditions see reduction in distance
Plummeting temperatures and heavy snowfall in Tuscany in the days leading up to the race had threatened the cancellation of the GP Costa degli Etruschi, with Saturday morning’s Gazzetta dello Sport going so far as to question whether it was reasonable to expect riders to risk life and limb in such conditions. Ultimately the race proceeded, albeit with one concession to the weather – the peloton would cover just two laps of the opening circuit rather than three, reducing the total distance to 169km.
Winter jackets, tights and snoods were the order of the day as the bunch pedalled gingerly away from a slightly delayed start in San Vincenzo. With temperatures hovering just above freezing, however, a number of riders were in no mood to hang around, and the main break of the day had forged clear within 15km.
Alessandro De Marchi (Androni), Davide Ricci Bitti (Farnese-Selle Italia) and Federico Rocchetti (Utensilnord-Named) were the three men who forced their way clear, and they quickly built up a maximum advantage of 11 minutes as they proceeded steadily through the snow-draped Tuscan countryside.
Inside the final 80km, their lead slowly but surely began to dwindle, as Liquigas-Cannondale, Colnago-CSF Bardiani and Lampre-ISD set to work on the front of the peloton, and by the time they reached the final lap of the finishing circuit with 10km, they had just 20 seconds in hand on the bunch.
At that point, the plucky De Marchi took a flyer and tried to hold off the peloton alone, but his effort fizzled out within 3 kilometres, and the stage was set for a grandstand finish in Donoratico. While Lampre-ISD did much of the spadework in clearing a path for the sprint, it was ultimately the youngsters Viviani and Modolo who fought it out, with Viviani emerging victorious.
A big 2012 stretches out before Viviani. As well as competing with a number of fast young Italian sprinters on the road, he is also building towards the London 2012 Olympics, where he hopes to compete in the omnium on the track.
“Now I’m taking part in the next races on the Italian calendar, starting with the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria, but the next important aim is the last round of the track World Cup in London,” Viviani said. “It will be important to get a good result there for the Olympics.”
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 4:25:00 |
2 | Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
3 | Filippo Baggio (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
4 | Giorgio Brambilla (Ita) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
5 | Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Team Nippo | |
6 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Team Idea | |
7 | Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | |
8 | Krisztian Lovassy (Hun) | |
9 | Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
10 | Enrico Rossi (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
11 | Luca Barla (Ita) Team Idea | |
12 | Baptiste Plackaert (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
13 | Kevin Peeters (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
14 | Filippo Fortin (Ita) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
15 | Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
16 | Giuseppe De Maria (Ita) Team Idea | |
17 | Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD | |
18 | Gianluca Maggiore (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
19 | Alexander Serebryakov (Rus) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
20 | Marco Zanotti (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
21 | Stefano Agostini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
22 | Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
23 | Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | |
24 | Omar Bertazzo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
25 | Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
26 | Mauro Abel Richeze (Arg) Team Nippo | |
27 | Jeffry Johan Romero Corredor (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
28 | Kevin Claeys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
29 | Marcel Aregger (Swi) Atlas Personal - Jakroo | |
30 | Ruslan Karimov (Uzb) Team Idea | |
31 | Tiziano Dall'antonia (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
32 | Reinier Honig (Ned) Landbouwkrediet | |
33 | Fabio Silvestre (Por) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
34 | Jonathan Breyne (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
35 | Cristian Cominelli (Ita) Team Idea | |
36 | Olivier Hofstetter (Swi) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
37 | Nicolas Winter (Swi) Atlas Personal - Jakroo | |
38 | Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
39 | Joeri Bueken (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
40 | Elia Favilli (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
41 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
42 | Jesus Ezquerra (Spa) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
43 | Michaël Baer (Swi) Atlas Personal - Jakroo | |
44 | Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
45 | Bruno Radotic (Cro) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
46 | Matti Helminen (Fin) Landbouwkrediet | |
47 | Roberto De Patre (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
48 | Juan Pablo Forero Carreno (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
49 | Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD | |
50 | Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
51 | Pit Schlechter (Lux) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
52 | Aldo Ino Ilesic (Slo) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
53 | Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
54 | Marco Coledan (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
55 | Simone Boifava (Ita) Team Idea | |
56 | Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
57 | Marton Solymosi (Hun) | |
58 | Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Team Nippo | |
59 | Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
60 | Oleg Berdos (Mda) Utensilnord Named | |
61 | Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale | |
62 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
63 | Gilles Devillers (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
64 | Alberto Di Lorenzo (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
65 | Florian Salzinger (Ger) Atlas Personal - Jakroo | |
66 | Davide Mucelli (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
67 | Julian Kern (Ger) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
68 | Paolo Locatelli (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
69 | Christian Delle Stelle (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
70 | Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
71 | Patrick Schelling (Swi) Atlas Personal - Jakroo | |
72 | Ryohei Komori (Jpn) Team Nippo | |
73 | Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
74 | Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
75 | Francesco Failli (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
76 | Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
77 | Federico Canuti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
78 | Rafael Andriato (Bra) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
79 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale | |
80 | Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
81 | Antonio Parrinello (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
82 | Blaz Bonca (Slo) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
83 | Joey Rosskopf (USA) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
84 | Bendeguz Bernard (Hun) | |
85 | Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre - ISD | |
86 | Boris Shpilevsky (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale | |
87 | Frederico Rocchetti (Ita) Utensilnord Named | |
88 | Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
89 | Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
90 | Javier Gonzalez Barrera (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
91 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
92 | Bob Jungels (Lux) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
93 | Joel Zangerle (Lux) Leopard - Trek Continental Team | |
94 | Adrian Kurek (Pol) Utensilnord Named | |
95 | Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) Acqua & Sapone | |
96 | Peter Simon (Hun) | |
97 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
98 | Francesco Ginanni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
99 | Andrea Palini (Ita) Team Idea | |
100 | Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes | |
101 | Francesco Reda (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
102 | Antonio Santoro (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
103 | Luca Dodi (Ita) Team Idea | |
104 | Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
105 | Davide Ricci Bitti (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | |
106 | Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Type 1 - Sanofi | |
107 | Juraj Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
108 | Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
109 | Paolo Ciavatta (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
110 | Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
111 | Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | |
112 | Biel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
113 | Alexander Zdanov (Rus) Team Nippo | |
114 | David John Mclean (GBr) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
115 | Jasmin Becirovic (Cro) Meridiana Kamen Team | |
116 | Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre - ISD | |
117 | Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - ISD | |
118 | Massimo Graziato (Ita) Lampre - ISD | |
119 | Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | |
120 | Andrea Di Corrado (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox | |
121 | Aristide Ratti (Ita) Team Idea | |
122 | Mariano Giallorenzo (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team |
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