Fabian Cancellara (Team Radioshack-Nissan) won the 6th edition of the Strade Bianche, for his second victory in the race. Showing a spectacular display of power Cancellera attacked his breakaway companions in an uphill stretch of dirt road on the 8th, and last section of the dirt roads, and charged in solitude to the finish line in Siena. Cancellara preceded Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Oscar Gatto (Farnese-Selle Italia) by 42 seconds. Finishing 4th was Alessandro Ballan at 46 seconds, and Greg Van Avermaet (both BMC Racing Team) in same time.
After the race Cancellara dedicated his victory to his family saying, "I dedicate this victory to my family. A few days ago my uncle died and the pain we have is all in my heart. I don't know if today I was the strongest, I had the motivation and desire to give my loved ones something important."
Of the race, "I always ride to win. Last spring I was close to a big win several times but it’s never easy to win. Maybe I was missing a little bit but you can’t do anything about it. Today it all went perfect thanks to work of the team and especially Daniele Bennati. When Bennati made his attack (with 38 km to go), I looked to see how the other riders were. I was tired; it had been a hard, intense, fast race. When Bennati went, nobody went after him and that made me realize that I wasn’t the only tired one. That motivated me and something clicked in my mind."
The great one-day classics of the North now have a big favorite.
Video of last 12 km:
Click on photos to enlarge.
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I love that he attacked on an uphill stretch of sterrata and rode away from everyone, gaining more and more time. Awesome victory.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great race! Cancellara looked like he was using a lower gear on the climbs than some others, I think Cassani said on RAI 3 he had a 28 sprocket in back. We enjoyed the live-streaming (still no RAI Sport channels down here)followed by the RAI 3 TV broadcast with much better picture quality. Already excited about T-A as well. RCS is finally getting smart about making the video available to the rest of the world at no charge...if it's all about advertising, perche non? The Italian races have for too long taken a back seat to their French cousins in the wider world.
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