Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) finally took his first victory of the season in the Coppa Agostini - the second event of the unofficial Trittico Lombardo - in Lissone, to the north west of Milan, Italy. The Italian climber outsprinted former teammate Fortunato Baliani (Team Nippo) on the line, after the pair of them had been off the front of the peloton for 106 of the race’s 196.5km.
Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) won the sprint for third place from a small group of riders, some 2’50” behind the two leaders.
“We tried from distance and we were very strong,” Sella said afterwards, according to tuttobiciweb.it. “Fortunato and I we never looked back and we can say that it went well. My teammates did a great job behind us and tomorrow we will have [Italian champion Franco] Pellizotti with us and we will be working for him.
“I haven’t won since last year,” he added. “I’ve had a difficult season in which I have been blocked, but now it seems that things have taken a turn for the better and I hope to continue to take some satisfying results.”
The two riders broke away in the first half of the race which crossed four categorised climbs, including the iconic Madonna del Ghisallo, and managed to open up a lead of 3’40” over the peloton behind them. With no concerted chase, and with their teammates blocking any efforts to pull them back, Sella and Baliani managed to hold on to most of their advantage all the way to the finish in Lissone, where Sella took his first victory since the Settimana Coppi e Bartali the previous March, and the 15th victory of the season for his Italian ProConti team.
“I had cramps in the finale, which is unfortunately a risk you take with not much racing,” said Baliani, according to tuttobiciweb.it. “I haven’t raced since July 31st, and so at the end I was not fresh, I couldn’t be.
“But it's okay,” he added. “I knew that I would not be competitive in the sprint, but I hope, with the some more racing, to be able to improve my condition and be able to get some results.”
The Trittico Lombardo concludes with the Tre Valli Varesine on Saturday, August 18th.
Result Coppa Agostini
1. Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela
2. Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Team Nippo
3. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Acqua & Sapone @ 2’50”
4. Davide Mucelli (Ita) Utensilnord-Named
5. Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela
6. Fabio Taborre (Ita) Acqua & Sapone @ 3’08”
7. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
8. Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) Utensilnord-Named
9. Angelo Pagani (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox
10. Francesco Failli (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia