Coppi e Bartali: Chicchi wins in Crevalcore

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Italy’s Francesco Chicchi won his first race of the season and his first race with Androni Giocattoli after a crash in the final kilometre disrupted the bunch sprint at the end of the third stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali to Crevalcore near Bologna.

Chicchi only secured a place with the team in the February but found his winning form by riding the recent Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia.

He beat Manuel Belletti (Southeast) and Daniele Colli (Vini Fantini-Nippo) in the sprint. Stage two winner Ben Swift (Team Sky) finished outside of the top 10 but retained his race lead. He leads Matija Kvasina Team Felbermayr Simplon) by 41, with Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani-CSF) third at 54 seconds.

Following Friday’s tough conditions in the rain, Saturday’s third stage was raced under blue skies. The early break of the day formed after just eight kilometres with 11 riders in the action. They worked well together for much of the 170km stage but Team Sky, with help from the peloton, chased then down and the race came back together with 12km to go.

A late crash caused son chaos but Chicchi kept his cool. Manuel Belletti (Southeast) kicked off the sprint with 300 metres to go but Chicchi found some extra speed to pass him in the final 20 metres.

The overall classification will be decided during Sunday’s final hilly stage around Modena. The 152km stage from Pavullo to Roccapelago and includes three tough climbs.

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