Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli) won the 33rd edition of the Giro del Friuli between Pordenone and Gorizia, in the north western Italian province, close to the border with Slovenia. The Colombian beat Pavel Brutt (Katusha) in a two-man sprint; with Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard) coming in 5 seconds behind at the end of the 187km course that included six ascents of the San Floriano del Collio climb.
On a freezing day, under heavy sleet showers, the race saw just 28 of the 163 starters reach the end of the race, three of them outside the time limit.
Over the early kilometres of the race there were very few attacks as the peloton rode into the teeth of a strong wind. Riders were leaving the back of the bunch, instead of the front; after just 45km the front group was reduced to just 31 riders, including Serpa, Sørensen and Brutt. Most of the big names in the race, such as Ivan Basso and Peter Sagan (both Liquigas-Cannondale), and Danilo Di Luca (Katusha), had already been left behind and would soon abandon.
Over the climb of San Floriano for the first and second times, as the group entered the five 16.6km finishing laps, it began to split up and was now reduced to just 19 up front. There were a number of attacks from individual riders in the next few laps, notably from Patxi Vila (De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia) which thinned the group further.
The final time up the climb a group of riders, made up of Serpa, Brutt, Sørensen, Maceij Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Simon Spilak (Lampre-ISD), pulled off the front of the group. Serpa and Brutt managed to pull clear over the top and managed to hold off the chasers to the finish, where the Colombian took a simple victory.
Serpa’s victory ends a succession of second places earned since winning the second stage of the Tour de San Luis back in mid-January.
Result Giro del Friuli
1. Jose Serpa (Col) Androni Giocattoli
2. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha
3. Nicki Sørensen (Den) Saxo Bank-SunGard @ 5s
4. Maceij Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale @ 8s
5. Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre-ISD
6. Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-ISD @ 25s
7. Simon Clarke (Aus) Astana
8. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Saxo Bank-SunGard
9. Patxi Vila (Esp) De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia @ 27s
10. Gozard Stangelj (Slo) Astana @ 31s