Team Sky's Morris Possoni is up to sixth overall after finishing seventh in the fourth stage of the Brixia Tour in northern Italy.
Overall win beckons for Baliani after key stage
Team Sky's Morris Possoni is up to sixth overall after finishing seventh in the fourth stage of the Brixia Tour in northern Italy.
The Italian was right to the fore on the final climb up the imposing Passo Maniva, crossing the line 25 seconds behind winner Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF).
Fortunato Baliani (d’Angelo & Antenucci) came second on what was the queen stage of the race to consolidate his overall lead.
Baliani stuck with Pozzovivo throughout the 19 hairpins up to the top of the 1,900m summit finish, eventually conceding just seven seconds.
Pozzovivo's victory pushed him right up the general classification to second, exactly two minutes behind.
There's unlikely to be too much movement on the final day as Sunday's final stage looks one for the sprinters as the riders cover 164.6km from Calcinato to Verona.
Teamwork
We caught up with Team Sky Sports Director Nicolas Portal afterwards to get some detail on the day's events. He said: "All the team rode very well together today.
"CJ (Sutton) got himself in a breakaway which was good for them team as it meant we didn't have to work early on and then approaching the final climb they were all helping Morris.
"Peter (Kennaugh) was very strong again today; he was close to Morris all the time and was riding on the front for him. Morris tried to go with the two leaders in the final kilometre and finished around half a minute behind. Peter kept on well himself and was ninth, only a few seconds behind Morris."
Looking ahead to Sunday, Portal is hoping his two sprinters can get right in the mix, adding: "We'll be doing everything we can to win the final stage with either CJ or Davide (Appollonio). The sprint on Friday was far from typical and very narrow in places but it should be better tomorrow.
"We'll be trying to get the team doing the best line they can on the front in the last three or four kilometres to set it up.
"CJ and Davide haven't really ridden together much before so it's very useful for them to work with each other this week and will stand them in good stead in future races."
Thoughts and prayers
The events of the race had been put into stark perspective by the terrible news coming out of Oslo in the previous 24 hours, a point Portal was keen to stress, especially so considering the presence of two Norwegians in his squad.
He said: "It was a very difficult day today for both Kurt-Asle Arvesen and Lars-Petter Nordhaug given what has happened in their home country.
"The thoughts and prayers of everyone here go out to all those affected."
