Fabian Cancellara got his Classics campaign off to a winning start with an impressive victory at the Strade Bianche.
Swiss champion unstoppable in Siena
Fabian Cancellara got his Classics campaign off to a winning start with an impressive victory at the Strade Bianche.
The Swiss powerhouse rode away from his fellow attackers on the final section of dirt road and soloed the remaining 12 kilometres to take the win by 42 seconds.
Victory in the famous Piazza del Campo in Siena gave RadioShack-Nissan their first success of the season in a race which has become an instant hit after just six editions.
Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Oscar Gatto (Farnese Vini) rounded out the podium as a five-man chase effort formed after Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) lit the blue touch paper and attacked on the steep climb on the Bottega Nuova section.
The chase quintet were hindered when Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing) took a wrong turn at a roundabout heading into Siena but the Italian recovered to take fourth overall.
Eight sections of dirt road making up a total of 57.2km split up the peloton and soon small groups were strewn across the picturesque Italian countryside.
Instant classic
After just 10km a group of 12 riders forged clear but were not given much rope by a determined peloton and had barely built up a gap of two minutes before they were pulled back.
Eventually the cream rose to the top with Cancellara, Ballan and Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan) forcing along an elite eight-man split which was eventually joined by a second group and totalled 19 men after the sixth section of strade bianche heading into the final 40km.
A further group containing defending champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) found themselves too far back to make an impact on the day.
Bennati and Daniel Oss (Liquigas) kicked on with 38km remaining yet only Bennati was able to hold the pace and continued unabated on the undulating run into Siena.
The Italian was finally caught with 16.6km to go as a who’s who of one-day specialists began to look at each other.
The eighth section of fabled dirt roads proved pivotal once again with Cancellara proving unbeatable as he added the race to his palmares for the second time.
