Pedaling brilliantly and with an irresistible desire to win were the ingredients that allowed Damiano Cunego to reach the finish line first in the second stage of the Giro di Sardgena. It had been 17 months since the Lampre-ISD rider had savored the taste of victory, his last being in La Pandera at the Vuelta a Espana in September, 2009.
The defining part of the stage occurred in the final Kms of the 197.5 stage. With an uphill finish on Monte Ortobene the top riders battled when first Scarponi, Capecchi, Kiserlov, Serpa Perez and Sella attacked, then were joined at 1000 meters to go by Cunego, Hermans, Stortoni, Brutt, Santambrogio and Sagan. Cunego was great in controlling his opponents and winning the sprint.
Cunego now leads in the overall standing by 2 seconds with the previous days winner, Sagan, in second.
"My shout at the arrival was full of satisaction", Cunego explained. "It's fantastic to win when you know that you're in good form, and of course it's even more beautiful to obtain success when you could not win for a long time."
Photo: by Bettini
Related story: A Visit with Damiano Cunego
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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,700 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also an Italian weather widget along the right side and a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page. What I'm riding.
Great to see the Little Prince back on the podium!
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