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It's the beauty of Italy, the quintessential Tuscan setting
The obvious nod to cycling's heritage and of course the modern twist, that make the
Strade Bianche a great spectacle.
One former winner explained the key to victory to us
It's important in the last 300 metres to be at the front, because the race is won by the
first guy to reach the final turn.
Fair-do's, but first you need to get there after 188kms of racing including some 70
kilometres of sterrati, or gravel roads.
Energy-sapping and with gradients well into the double digits, these sectors are both
technical, and in places potentially dangerous.
Under a bright sky, but with chill winds, an escape group consisting of BMC's Michael
Schaer, IAM's Aleksej Saramotins, Giairi Ermeti of Androni-Giocattoli, and Katyusha's
Maxim Belkov gained as much as 10 minutes 50 as the peloton went piano-piano.
But Cannondale and Radioshack were at the head of affairs as the kilometres ticked by,
the gap steadily decreasing to under five minutes with 57 to go.
The quartet continued to ride cohesively, while the cream had risen to the top of the
chasing bunch, causing an inevitable scattering of riders at the back of the race.
The lead would eventually disintegrate before a regrouping that brought late attacker Moreno
Moser into contention with 6 kms to go.
And the Cannondale man sprung free after the flamme rouge to score a superb win in the
Piazza del Campo, his teammate Peter Sagan motoring to second and AG2RÕs Rinaldo Nocentini
pipping defending champ Fabian Cancellara to third, Saramotins from the original break
grabbing a fantastic fifth.
One of the most beautiful races in Italy. Last year when I did this race I promised
to me that one day I have to win this race, so I am so happy because this is a race that
I love and I am happy to win.
And Italians are happy they finally have a home champion after seven editions.
Phil Sheehan GCN in Siena