Italian pre-Worlds 'tournée'

Barbero, Bennati, Rojas and Fernández into eventful fight for position before Peccioli's final slope, dominated by Spaniard's brutal kick to beat top sprinters.

The Movistar Team’s series of races in Italy prior to the World Championships in Innsbruck took them to a second chaper on Thursday at the 199km Coppa Sabatini (UCI 1.1), finishing atop the 1km, 7% slope of Via Risorgimento in Peccioli (Pisa).

Present until the final laps of the decisive circuit with nearly all of its riders in the main field, Bennati, Barbero, Pedrero and Fernández later drove José Joaquín Rojas into a good position. However, the dangerous swerving and pace changes into the bunch during the last 4km took the Cieza native out of contention.

A crash by Vincenzo Albanese (BRD) as he tried to anticipate the bunch through the final hill propelled Juanjo Lobato (NIP) to seek for a long sprint that ultimately brought the ex-Movistar Team rider the win, ahead of Sonny Colbrelli (TBM, 2nd) and Gianni Moscon (SKY, 3rd). The Telefónica-backed squad will seek for new adventures in Italy during the weekend, starting with Saturday’s Memorial Pantani in Cesenatico.

Pictures (c): Roberto Bettini / BettiniPhoto.net