Chicchi in command at Coppi e Bartali

Image 1 of 45

Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas-Doimo) added to an already impressive season as he took a tightly contested sprint on stage 1a of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali on Tuesday morning.

Chicchi had just enough of his front tyre over the line to deny Colnago-CSF Inox's Mattia Gavazzi. Roberto Ferrari (De Rosa-Stac Plastic) secured third place at the end of the 81.2 kilometre circuit race.

By virtue of his stage victory, Chicchi also claimed the first leader's jersey of the five-stage event. He will head into Tuesday's afternoon stage (1b) with a two second lead over Gavazzi, and a four second advantage over Ferrari.

The stage, which marked Riccardo Riccò's (Ceramica Flaminia) return to competition after his two-year doping ban, had seen the peloton remain intact for much of the eight circuits around the town of Riccione.

An gradual increase in speed throughout each lap ensured any escape attempts around the back end of the course had been recovered by the end of each lap.

The peloton entered the final approach to the line with Liquigas-Doimo leading-out for Chicchi, who, despite a tight contest with Gavazzi, was able to make good on his teammates' efforts.