Possoni back on the podium

Morris Possoni claimed his second top-three finish of the Brixia Tour with another strong climbing display on stage four.

Pozzovivo extends overall lead

Morris Possoni claimed his second top-three finish of the Brixia Tour with another strong climbing display on the penultimate stage. The Italian - racing in his native Lombardy - was ably supported by his team-mates during the opening five laps of the day and then pressed on alone up the Passo Maniva and was only beaten to the mountain-top finish by stage winner Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago CSF) and Garmin's Daniel Martin. The result continued a fine run of form for Possoni, who also finished third on Thursday's ascent of the Cima Poffe, and moved him up to second in the general classification. Pozzovivo's second stage win extended his overall advantage to one minute and 50 seconds and he now seems all-but assured of keeping the leader's blue jersey with only one sprint stage remaining. Team Sky's sports director Marcus Ljungqvist explained how Saturday's stage had unfolded. He said: "A group of about five guys went away on those first [22.2km] laps, and soon after that Colnago moved up to the front of the peloton and rode tempo to control the race. Like us, they have looked really strong all week and worked hard to bring the escapees back before the final climb. "Once they had done that Pozzovivo just rode away and Morris and Dan Martin were the only guys who really gave chase. Those two both finished within a few seconds of each other but Pozzovivo was almost a minute ahead at the end there. He is looking in top, top form at the moment and I think the blue jersey is pretty much his now. "That final climb was a really tough one which got steeper and steeper over about 35km, and really kicked up in the last 12km. I was happy to see our guys put Morris in a good position before it though." The Brixia Tour culminates on Sunday with a 179.5km trek from Chiari to Orzinuovi and Ljungqvist revealed Chris Sutton will be giving it all he has to try and secure his second stage win. "CJ is up for the sprint again and he is one of - if not the - fastest sprinter at this race," the Swede added. "Colnago will be controlling the race again but we need to make sure we are organised as well and up there when it matters. "If we can get Morris a podium finish here as well, we will be really happy with that." Stage four result: 1 - Domenico Pozzovivo - (ITA) - Colnago-CSF - (4:07:57)
2 - Daniel Martin - (IRL) - Garmin - (+53)
3 - Morris Possoni - (ITA) - Team Sky - (+54)
4 - Diego Ulissi - (ITA) - Lampre - (+1:05)
5 - Damiano Caruso - (ITA) - De Rosa - (+1:23)
6 - Przemyslaw Niemiec - (POL) - Miche - (+2:04)
7 - Pasquale Muto - (ITA) - Miche - (+2:10)
8 - Riccardo Chiarini - (ITA) - De Rosa - (+2:15)
9 - Marco Marzano - (ITA) - Lampre - (+2:20)
10 - Matteo Carrara - (ITA) - Vacansoleil - (+2:20)
Overall standings: 1 - Domenico Pozzovivo - (ITA) - Colnago-CSF - (11:42:40)
2 - Morris Possoni - (ITA) - Team Sky - (+1:50)
3 - Daniel Martin - (IRL) - Garmin - (+2:39)
4 - Diego Ulissi - (ITA) - Lampre - (+3:21)
5 - Bartosz Huzarski - (POL) - ISD-Neri - (+3:36)
6 - Marco Marzano - (ITA) - Lampre - (+3:49)
7 - Damiano Caruso - (ITA) - De Rosa - (+4:27)
8 - Ruslan Pidgornyy - (UKR) - ISD-Neri - (+4:35)
9 - Matteo Carrara - (ITA) - Vacansoleil - (+4:40)
10 - Riccardo Chiarini - (ITA) - De Rosa - (+6:05)