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

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