BMC Racing Team rider Ivan Santaromita has worked for several years for others but today he got a slice of the limelight when he beat two bigger names, Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre - Merida), to win the third stage of the Giro del Trentino in Italy.
The Italian outsprinted his two compatriots in Condino, timing his effort perfectly to come past Tiralongo and to grab his first victory since taking the overall classification of Settimana Coppi e Bartali in 2010.
Speaking afterwards, he credited the team leader and the directeur sportif Fabio Baldato with giving him a green light to ride for himself. “Cadel Evans and Fabio Baldato told me it was a good day for me to get in the breakaway and try to win the stage,” he said, thanking them.
“Today, finally, it was perfect. I had good legs and good tactics. I saw Scarponi suffering with cramps and Tiralongo was the best sprinter, so I took his wheel.”
The trio had earlier been part of a larger eleven man group but under the pressure exerted by Scarponi, they pushed ahead of the others on the final climb of the day. They hit the line 34 seconds ahead of Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox), José C Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Cannondale Pro Cycling) and Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA).
The peloton was led in by Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) one minute and 23 seconds later, with the overall leader Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale) finishing alongside his main rivals and keeping his overall lead.
He now has just one day left to try to retain the pink jersey, and holds a three minute 19 second lead over his closest challenger Kanstantin Siutsou (Sky Procycling). His team-mate, the 2012 Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins, is a further 29 seconds back, with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) also within four minutes of the lead.
Bouet’s defence of the jersey is a bright note in an otherwise tough day for the Ag2r La Mondiale squad. It lost the 2012 race winner Domenico Pozzovivo inside the first seven kilometres, with the Italian crashing and being forced to withdraw.
“Tomorrow, I will need to cover the Astana guys as they have plenty of riders who are very suited to high gradients like those of the Sega di Ala,” Bouet said, referring to the final climb. However he is a little concerned by his drop in form of late. “With such an advantage and the condition I had three weeks ago, I could have got through tomorrow with little worry. Nevertheless, I am still hoping for this – for myself and for my team, who are doing an outstanding job.”
How it played out:
The day’s break originated from a smaller two man move launched by Sky’s Dario Cataldo and Fabio Felline of the Androni-Venezuela team, with the duo getting clear early on and building a lead of a couple of minutes.
Tiralongo and Scarponi were aggressive on the climb of Fai della Paganella, and soon got across with seven others, namely Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida), José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Cannondale), Emanuele Sella (Androni-Venezuela), Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural), Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural), Tanel Kangert (Astana) and Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox).
The gap was initially slow to grow but had risen to three and a half minutes with 50 kilometres remaining. Behind, NetApp-Endura and Vini Fantini Selle Italia ramped up the chase and lopped over a minute off the advantage.
Scarponi was concerned by that and was also eyeing a stage win, and he attacked on the Daone climb. Tiralongo and Santaromita were the only two strong enough to go with him, and together the trio hurtled towards the finish and that sprint to the line.
Meanwhile the overall contenders were unable to get a lasting gap over each other, with Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) unsuccessful in his bid to stay clear after opening a gap.
Stage winner Santaromita was very satisfied with the result. “This is wonderful. Before coming to this race, I did a training camp alone. It's not always easy being away from my family and away from home. But now I am happy. It's a beautiful day,” he said.
The race continues tomorrow with a 166.8 kilometre stage from Arco to the top of the Sega di Ala climb.
Giro del Trentino, Italy (2.HC):
Stage 3: Pergine Valsugana - Condino:
1, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing Team) 176.1 kilometres in 4 hours 26 mins 25 secs
2, Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team)
3, Michele Scarponi (Lampre - Merida)
4, Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 34 secs
5, José C Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
6, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
7, Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 1 min 12 secs
8, Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 1 min 23 secs
9, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli)
10, Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Androni Giocattoli)
11, Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
12, Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
13, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
14, Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar)
15, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
16, Andre Fernando S.Mar Cardoso (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
17, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
18, Cameron Wurf (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
19, Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar)
20, Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team)
21, Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
22, Kanstantin Siutsou (Sky Procycling)
23, Jonathan Monsalve (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
24, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team)
25, Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli)
26, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team)
27, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre - Merida)
28, Sergio Pardilla Bellon (MTN - Qhubeka)
29, Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale)
30, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli)
31, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team)
32, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Colombia)
33, Jarlinson Pantano Gomez (Colombia)
34, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling)
35, Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Lampre - Merida)
36, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
37, Christopher Butler (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
38, Valerio Agnoli (Astana Pro Team)
39, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team)
40, Leopold Konig (Team Netapp - Endura)
41, Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Sky Procycling)
42, Ivan Basso (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
43, Kristijan Durasek (Lampre - Merida)
44, Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
45, Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida)
46, Hubert Dupont (Ag2r La Mondiale)
47, Leonardo Fabio Duque (Colombia) at 6 mins 7 secs
48, Louis Meintjes (MTN - Qhubeka)
49, Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar) at 6 mins 21 secs
50, Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar)
51, Marco Corti (Colombia)
52, Jan Barta (Team Netapp - Endura)
53, Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli) at 9 mins 5 secs
54, Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
55, Carlos Julia Quintero Norena (Colombia)
56, Ryota Nishizono (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
57, Bartosz Huzarski (Team Netapp - Endura)
58, Antonio Santoro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
59, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia)
60, Ben Gastauer (Ag2r La Mondiale)
61, Dario Cataldo (Sky Procycling)
62, David G De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team Netapp - Endura)
63, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling)
64, Alessandro Mauro Vanotti (Astana Pro Team) at 12 mins 28 secs
65, Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
66, Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team) at 21 mins 54 secs
67, Meron Russom (MTN - Qhubeka)
68, Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
69, Juan Pablo Suarez Suarez (Colombia)
70, Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Androni Giocattoli)
71, Chad Beyer (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
72, Sergey Firsanov (Rusvelo)
73, Sergei Pomoshnikov (Rusvelo)
74, David Veilleux (Team Europcar)
75, Alexander Rybakov (Rusvelo)
76, Jackson Jesu Rodriguez Ortiz (Androni Giocattoli)
77, Andrea Manfredi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
78, Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo)
79, Cesare Benedetti (Team Netapp - Endura)
80, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
81, Sergey Klimov (Rusvelo)
82, Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
83, Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
84, Lukasz Owsian (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
85, Cristiano Monguzzi (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
86, Ruben Fernandez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
87, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
88, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
89, Fabio Taborre (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
90, Xabier Zandio Echaide (Sky Procycling)
91, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
92, Juraj Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
93, Tiziano Dall'antonia (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
94, Mateusz Taciak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
95, Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r La Mondiale)
96, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN - Qhubeka)
97, Andrea Fedi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
98, Sylvain Georges (Ag2r La Mondiale)
99, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
100, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
101, Ilya Gorodnichev (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
102, Filippo Savini (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
103, Nicola Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
104, Natnael Berhane (Team Europcar)
105, Ralf Matzka (Team Netapp - Endura)
106, Tsgabu Grmay (MTN - Qhubeka)
107, Giairo Ermeti (Androni Giocattoli)
108, Songezo Jim (MTN - Qhubeka)
109, Stefano Garzelli (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
110, Michael Schwarzmann (Team Netapp - Endura)
111, Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
112, Marco Canola (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
113, Roberto Ferrari (Lampre - Merida)
114, Danny Pate (Sky Procycling)
115, Adam Blythe (BMC Racing Team)
116, Peter Kennaugh (Sky Procycling)
117, Johann Van Zyl (MTN - Qhubeka)
118, Angelo Tulik (Team Europcar)
Did not start:
Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
Marco Coledan (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
Did not finish:
Alexandr Mironov (Rusvelo)
Andrei Solomennikov (Rusvelo)
Artem Ovechkin (Rusvelo)
Chan Jae Jang (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
Davide Vigano' (Lampre - Merida)
Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale)
Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
Gang Xu (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
Gregor Gazvoda (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
Jeffry Joha G Romero Corredor (Colombia)
Kin San Wu (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
Manuel Belletti (Ag2r La Mondiale)
Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Lampre - Merida)
Muhamad Adiq Othman (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
Omar Fraile Matarranza (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
Valentin Iglinskiy (Ag2r La Mondiale)
General classification after stage 3:
1, Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale 1) at 3 hours 23 mins 36 secs
2, Kanstantin Siutsou (Sky Procycling) at 3 mins 19 secs
3, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) at 3 mins 48 secs
4, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team) at 3 mins 57 secs
5, Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 4 mins 6 secs
6, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) at 4 mins 19 secs
7, Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team) at 4 mins 20 secs
8, Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 4 mins 27 secs
9, Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) at 4 mins 49 secs
10, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre - Merida) at 4 mins 52 secs
11, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) at 5 mins 3 secs
12, Andre Fernando S.Mar Cardoso (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 5 mins 34 secs
13, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 5 mins 39 secs
14, Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 5 mins 42 secs
15, Ivan Basso (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 5 mins 51 secs
16, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 5 mins 54 secs
17, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli) at 6 mins 7 secs
18, Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 6 mins 10 secs
19, Leopold Konig (Team Netapp - Endura) at 6 mins 16 secs
20, Christopher Butler (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 6 mins 17 secs
21, Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team) at 6 mins 32 secs
22, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
23, Michele Scarponi (Lampre - Merida) at 6 mins 37 secs
24, Valerio Agnoli (Astana Pro Team) at 6 mins 54 secs
25, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing Team) at 7 mins 4 secs
26, Cameron Wurf (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 7 mins 48 secs
27, Sergio Pardilla Bellon (MTN - Qhubeka) at 7 mins 50 secs
28, Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida) at 8 mins 4 secs
29, Jonathan Monsalve (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 8 mins 27 secs
30, Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Androni Giocattoli) at 8 mins 32 secs
31, Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli)
32, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 8 mins 47 secs
33, Hubert Dupont (Ag2r La Mondiale) at 9 mins 54 secs
34, Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 9 mins 55 secs
35, Jarlinson Pantano Gomez (Colombia) at 10 mins 2 secs
36, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team) at 10 mins 23 secs
37, Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Lampre - Merida) at 10 mins 53 secs
38, José C Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 11 mins 19 secs
39, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia) at 11 mins 44 secs
40, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 12 mins 19 secs
41, Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 14 mins 4 secs
42, Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Sky Procycling) at 15 mins 40 secs
43, Louis Meintjes (MTN - Qhubeka) at 15 mins 51 secs
44, Kristijan Durasek (Lampre - Merida) at 16 mins 11 secs
45, David G De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team Netapp - Endura) at 17 mins 29 secs
46, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) at 18 mins 15 secs
47, Marco Corti (Colombia) at 18 mins 39 secs
48, Dario Cataldo (Sky Procycling)
49, Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 19 mins 57 secs
50, Carlos Julia Quintero Norena (Colombia) at 20 mins 7 secs
51, Antonio Santoro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 20 mins 58 secs
52, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Colombia) at 21 mins 18 secs
53, Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar) at 21 mins 28 secs
54, Ben Gastauer (Ag2r La Mondiale) at 23 mins 9 secs
55, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling) at 23 mins 37 secs
56, Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo) at 24 mins 6 secs
57, Leonardo Fabio Duque (Colombia) at 24 mins 14 secs
58, Jan Barta (Team Netapp - Endura) at 24 mins 19 secs
59, Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 25 mins 25 secs
60, Bartosz Huzarski (Team Netapp - Endura) at 26 mins 19 secs
61, Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli) at 26 mins 25 secs
62, Nicola Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 26 mins 44 secs
63, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN - Qhubeka) at 27 mins 6 secs
64, Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar) at 27 mins 10 secs
65, Ryota Nishizono (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 28 mins 53 secs
66, Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar) at 29 mins 0 secs
67, Ruben Fernandez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 30 mins 12 secs
68, Alexander Rybakov (Rusvelo) at 32 mins 25 secs
69, Natnael Berhane (Team Europcar)
70, Chad Beyer (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 32 mins 26 secs
71, Alessandro Mauro Vanotti (Astana Pro Team) at 32 mins 33 secs
72, Sergei Pomoshnikov (Rusvelo) at 32 mins 48 secs
73, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 32 mins 58 secs
74, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 33 mins 25 secs
75, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 33 mins 41 secs
76, Jackson Jesu Rodriguez Ortiz (Androni Giocattoli) at 33 mins 46 secs
77, Cristiano Monguzzi (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 33 mins 47 secs
78, Peter Kennaugh (Sky Procycling) at 35 mins 47 secs
79, Sylvain Georges (Ag2r La Mondiale) at 35 mins 58 secs
80, Sergey Firsanov (Rusvelo) at 36 mins 32 secs
81, Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team) at 38 mins 15 secs
82, Stefano Garzelli (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 38 mins 43 secs
83, Xabier Zandio Echaide (Sky Procycling) at 38 mins 55 secs
84, Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 39 mins 3 secs
85, Marco Canola (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 39 mins 5 secs
86, Meron Russom (MTN - Qhubeka) at 39 mins 13 secs
87, Lukasz Owsian (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 39 mins 47 secs
88, Mateusz Taciak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
89, Juan Pablo Suarez Suarez (Colombia) at 40 mins 1 secs
90, Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r La Mondiale) at 40 mins 12 secs
91, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 40 mins 21 secs
92, Tsgabu Grmay (MTN - Qhubeka) at 41 mins 20 secs
93, Danny Pate (Sky Procycling) at 41 mins 39 secs
94, Sergey Klimov (Rusvelo) at 41 mins 45 secs
95, Ilya Gorodnichev (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 41 mins 49 secs
96, Andrea Manfredi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 41 mins 51 secs
97, David Veilleux (Team Europcar) at 42 mins 18 secs
98, Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 42 mins 35 secs
99, Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 43 mins 0 secs
100, Johann Van Zyl (MTN - Qhubeka) at 43 mins 32 secs
101, Fabio Taborre (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 43 mins 44 secs
102, Angelo Tulik (Team Europcar) at 44 mins 6 secs
103, Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 44 mins 27 secs
104, Cesare Benedetti (Team Netapp - Endura) at 45 mins 22 secs
105, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 46 mins 58 secs
106, Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Androni Giocattoli) at 48 mins 34 secs
107, Tiziano Dall'antonia (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 49 mins 8 secs
108, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 49 mins 11 secs
109, Juraj Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 49 mins 17 secs
110, Giairo Ermeti (Androni Giocattoli) at 49 mins 30 secs
111, Adam Blythe (BMC Racing Team) at 49 mins 34 secs
112, Filippo Savini (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 49 mins 48 secs
113, Songezo Jim (MTN - Qhubeka) at 50 mins 15 secs
114, Ralf Matzka (Team Netapp - Endura) at 51 mins 19 secs
115, Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 52 mins 50 secs
116, Roberto Ferrari (Lampre - Merida)
117, Michael Schwarzmann (Team Netapp - Endura) at 52 mins 51 secs
118, Andrea Fedi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 53 mins 19 secs
Young rider:
1, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team 1) at 3 hours 27 mins 55 secs
2, Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 1 min 23 secs
3, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli) at 1 min 48 secs
4, Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida) at 3 mins 45 secs
5, Jonathan Monsalve (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) at 4 mins 8 secs
6, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia) at 7 mins 25 secs
7, Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 9 mins 45 secs
8, Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Sky Procycling) at 11 mins 21 secs
9, Louis Meintjes (MTN - Qhubeka) at 11 mins 32 secs
10, David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team Netapp - Endura) at 13 mins 10 secs