Bonifazio fastest in GP Lugano
By Cycling News published
Lampre rider tops Gavazzi, Montaguti in all-Italian podium
Niccolò Bonifazio won his first race and Lampre-Merida's fifth of the season by out sprinting Francesco Gavazzi (Southeast) and Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale) at the GP Lugano. The 21-year-old Italian had five top-ten finishes prior to the UCI 1.1 race this season but with Przemyslaw Niemiec leading him out to perfection, Bonifazio proved to be the fastest after the 184.9km race.
"I'm very satisfied for this first seasonal victory, GP Lugano is a demanding race and so this result makes me happy," Bonifazio said. "The past season ended with many victories, so I could spend a calm winter and I trained with huge passion and with the aim of improving my skills.
The win was confirmation of Bonifazio's rising stock having claimed four wins his debut season as a professional, including three stages of the Tour of Hainan last October.
"2015 began in Australia and from there my condition has become better and better and now the level of my competitiveness is good, that's why today I could avoid being dropped on the climbs," Bonifazio added. "I thank the team that supported me and I share this joy with my team mates."
The undulating race saw a 17-rider group build a steady gap over the peloton early into the day. Lampre-Merida had placed Luka Pibernik in the break and were happy to leave the pace making to the other teams who decided one keeping them within a safe time gap. As the race was reaching its conclusion with 10km left to race, the break was reeled in with 10 rider then launching a counter attack on the final climb.
Riders in the group included Linus Gerdemann (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) and IAM Cycling duo Jonathan Fumeaux and Sébastien Reichenbach while MTN-Qhubeka's Natnael Berhane trying to force a solo move off the front, emulating the aggressive approach of teammate Daniel Teklehaimanot who claimed all three GPM's on offer
With the pace high as the sprinters teams worked to pull the move back, Tinkoff-Saxo were active in finale with Ivan Basso and Sergio Paulinho both testing their legs but to no avail as with five kilometre to go, the race was all back together with Valerio Conti and Niemiec setting a fast pace with the aim of delivering Bonifazio to victory who duly repaid the work done by his teammates by easily out sprinting his rivals on the lake front of Lugano.
Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre - Merida | 4:38:08 |
2 | Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Southeast | |
3 | Matteo Montaguti (Ita) Ag2r La Mondiale | |
4 | Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | |
5 | Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | |
6 | Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
7 | Javier Megias Leal (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk | |
8 | Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff - Saxo | |
9 | David Tanner (Aus) IAM Cycling | |
10 | Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
11 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale | |
12 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Sui) IAM Cycling | |
13 | Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Tinkoff - Saxo | |
14 | Elia Favilli (Ita) Southeast | |
15 | Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre - Merida | |
16 | Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling | |
17 | Ivan Basso (Ita) Tinkoff - Saxo | |
18 | Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r La Mondiale | 0:00:10 |
19 | Rodolfo Andres Torres Agudelo (Col) Team Colombia | |
20 | Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Team Colombia | 0:00:15 |
21 | Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Tinkoff - Saxo | 0:00:29 |
22 | Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale | |
23 | Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre - Merida | |
24 | Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka | 0:00:42 |
25 | Alex Cano Ardila (Col) Team Colombia | |
26 | Louis Meintjes (Rsa) MTN - Qhubeka | 0:00:44 |
27 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
28 | Jerome Coppel (Fra) IAM Cycling | |
29 | Clement Chevrier (Fra) IAM Cycling | |
30 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre - Merida | |
31 | Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | 0:01:08 |
32 | Valerio Conti (Ita) Lampre - Merida | 0:01:21 |
33 | Simone Ponzi (Ita) Southeast | |
34 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
35 | Natnael Berhane (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka | |
36 | Jonathan Fumeaux (Sui) IAM Cycling | |
37 | Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Roth Skoda | 0:01:22 |
38 | Patrick Schelling (Sui) IAM Cycling | |
39 | Roman Maikin (Rus) RusVelo | |
40 | Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Esp) Tinkoff - Saxo | 0:01:40 |
41 | Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
42 | Ivan Balykin (Rus) RusVelo | 0:01:52 |
43 | Davide Appollonio (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 0:02:15 |
44 | Luca Chirico (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
45 | Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
46 | Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
47 | Oliver Zaugg (Sui) Tinkoff - Saxo | |
48 | Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Lampre - Merida | |
49 | Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Rsa) MTN - Qhubeka | |
50 | Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | 0:03:00 |
51 | Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Southeast | |
52 | Andrea Piechele (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
53 | Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
54 | Sebastián Molano (Col) Team Colombia | 0:07:37 |
55 | Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Team Colombia | |
56 | Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Team Colombia | |
57 | Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
58 | Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale | |
59 | Julien Berard (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale | |
60 | Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff - Saxo | |
61 | Nico Brüngger (Sui) Roth Skoda | |
62 | Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka | |
63 | Lukas Jaun (Sui) Roth Skoda | |
64 | Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) MTN - Qhubeka | |
65 | Songezo Jim (Rsa) MTN - Qhubeka | |
66 | Pirmin Lang (Sui) IAM Cycling | |
67 | Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk | |
68 | Andrea Vaccher (Ita) Roth Skoda | |
69 | Luka Pibernik (Slo) Lampre - Merida | |
70 | Nick Dougall (Rsa) MTN - Qhubeka | 0:07:39 |
DNF | Matteo Busato (Ita) Southeast | |
DNF | Ramon Carretero (Pan) Southeast | |
DNF | Jonathan Monsalve (Ven) Southeast | |
DNF | Mirko Tedeschi (Ita) Southeast | |
DNF | Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff - Saxo | |
DNF | Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre - Merida | |
DNF | Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Ag2r La Mondiale | |
DNF | Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani - CSF Pro Team | |
DNF | Carlos Galviz (Ven) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Simone Stortoni (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Fabio Taborre (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Manabu Ishibashi (Jpn) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
DNF | Shiki Kuroeda (Jpn) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
DNF | Genki Yamamoto (Jpn) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
DNF | Antonio Nibali (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini | |
DNF | Ildar Arslanov (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Petr Ignatenko (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Roman Kustadinchev (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Artem Nych (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Artem Ovechkin (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) RusVelo | |
DNF | Scott Ambrose (NZl) Team Novo Nordisk | |
DNF | Corentin Cherhal (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk | |
DNF | Kevin De Mesmaeker (Bel) Team Novo Nordisk | |
DNF | Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk | |
DNF | Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk | |
DNF | Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk | |
DNF | Daniel Martínez (Col) Team Colombia | |
DNF | Karel Hnik (Cze) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Gustav Larsson (Swe) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Christian Mager (Ger) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Michael Bresciani (Ita) Roth Skoda | |
DNF | Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Roth Skoda | |
DNF | Yannick Eckmann (USA) Roth Skoda | |
DNF | Giacomo Tomio (Ita) Roth Skoda |

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