03/8/2008| 0 comments
by Thomas Valentinsen

Monte Paschi Eroica Results

Cancellara warms up for Paris-Roubaix.

Team CSC’s Fabian Cancellara won a brilliant victory in the new Italian one-day race Monte Paschi Eroica.

The race took place for professionals for the first time last year, where Team CSC took a double win with Alexandr Kolobnev and Marcus Ljungquist.

Cancellara managed a great follow up on last year’s triumph by beating Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) in the sprint on the legendary Piazza del Campo in Siena.

The 181-kilometer race from Gaiole in Chianti to Siena has become somewhat of an institution within Italian cycling sport after having been held as a pure recreational race for a number of years. 56 kilometers of the route is on old steep graveled roads in the Chianti Region in the Southern part of Tuscany.

So far Team CSC has dominated the professional edition of the race and with the victory today Cancellara yet again managed to underline the fact that he is more than ready for the oncoming classics in Northern Europe.

”It was a great victory for both me and the team, because there’s no doubt that this is a very unique race. I wasn’t feeling all that great to begin with, but once the sprint opened up my legs were cooperating just fine. In the finale I was able to make a difference, which tells me that I’m on the right track ahead of the classics,” explained a happy Fabian Cancellara following his second victory this year.

Cancellara split the favorite’s group shortly before the last graveled stretch and only Alessandro Ballan was able to keep up. The two classics specialists managed to build up a small lead and during the last kilometers Cancellara left nothing to chance and ended up winning the sprint comfortably in Siena.

”Everything turned out perfectly for us today. We had Anders Lund and Matti Breschel in the long break and they both delivered a great effort out there. Fabian showed tremendous strength at the end and won a brilliant victory. It’s a really tough race and it definitely has the potential to become one of cycling sport’s all-time greats. It was a good sign for us to have one of our biggest classics profiles at the top of the podium,” said sports director Lars Michaelsen after the race.

March 8, 2008: GP Eroica (182 km):
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC       04:34:41
2 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
3 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team High Road                                    0.15
4 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
5 Baden Cooke (Aus) Barloworld
6 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Barloworld
7 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
8 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team High Road
9 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems                                0.38
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
11 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) LPR Brakes
12 Borghini Longo (Ita) Barloworld
13 Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita) Barloworld
14 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas                                          1.10
15 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) LPR Brakes
16 Steven Cozza (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
17 Ángel Gómez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott
18 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC
19 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team High Road
20 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
21 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
22 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
23 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval - Scott
24 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
25 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC
26 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner                                     1.50
27 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram
28 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
29 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC
30 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
31 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
32 Julien Loubet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
33 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas
34 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
35 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
36 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
37 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
38 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step
39 Francesco Ginanni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
40 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare
41 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Barloworld                                    2.20
42 Mauro Facci (Ita) Quick Step                                           4.10
43 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r-La Mondiale
44 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
45 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare                                 5.20
46 Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Col) CSF Group Navigare
47 Christian Murro (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
48 Jure Golcer (Slo) LPR Brakes
49 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis
50 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
51 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld
52 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas
53 Bert Grabsch (Ger) High Road                                           7.15
54 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) High Road
55 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott                              8.20
56 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott
57 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Saunier Duval - Scott
58 Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) LPR Brakes
59 Paolo Bailetti (Ita) LPR Brakes
60 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC                                                9.30
61 William Frischkorn (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
62 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Team Milram                                      10.00
63 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
DNS Carlo Westphal (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Alessandro Proni (Ita) Quick Step
DNF Andrea Tonti (Ita) Quick Step
DNF Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
DNF Blaise Sonnery (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
DNF Rene Mandri (Est) Ag2r-La Mondiale
DNF Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale
DNF Diego Caccia (Ita) Barloworld
DNF Marco Corti (Ita) Barloworld
DNF Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
DNF Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
DNF Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
DNF Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
DNF Steve Zampieri (Swi) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
DNF Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
DNF Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
DNF Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
DNF Denis Bertolini (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
DNF Emiliano Donadello (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
DNF Manuel Belletti (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
DNF Roberto Traficante (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
DNF Thomas Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Oscar Gatto (Ita) Gerolsteiner
DNF Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Kim Kirchen (Lux) High Road
DNF Marco Pinotti (Ita) High Road
DNF Fabio Baldato (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
DNF Emanuele Bindi (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
DNF Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
DNF Roberto Longo (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
DNF Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
DNF Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas
DNF Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas
DNF Alberto Curtolo (Ita) Liquigas
DNF Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas
DNF Luca Celli (Ita) LPR Brakes
DNF Claudio Cucinotta (Ita) LPR Brakes
DNF Raffaele Ferrara (Ita) LPR Brakes
DNF Denis Flahaut (Fra) Saunier Duval-Scott
DNF Raúl Alarcón Garcia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott
DNF Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Scott
DNF Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Slipstream Chipotle - H30
DNF Michael Friedman (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
DNF Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team CSC
DNF Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC
DNF Martin Müller (Ger) Team Milram
DNF Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Team Milram
DNF Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Milram
DNF Elia Rigotto (Ita) Team Milram
DNF Alexander Gottfried (Ger) Tinkoff Credit Systems
DNF Nikita Eskov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
DNF Bernardo Riccio (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
DNF Alberto Loddo (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
DNF Ilya Chernetskiy (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems