Fabian Cancellara wins Eroica

• Results

CSC’s powerhouse Fabian Cancellara won Saturday’s new Italian one-day, the Monte Paschi Eroica.

The long-time amateur race, which includes miles of gravel roads, was held for the first time as a professional race last fall.

The first pro edition also was won by a CSC rider, Alexandr Kolobnev.

”It was a great victory for both me and the team, because there’s no doubt that this is a very unique race, “Cancellara said. “I wasn’t feeling all that great to begin with, but once the sprint opened up my legs were cooperating just fine. In the finale I was able to make a difference, which tells me that I’m on the right track ahead of the classics.”

Cancellara broke from the favorite’s group shortly before the last graveled stretch with Lampre’s Alessandro Ballan.

“Everything turned out perfectly for us today,” said team director Lars Michaelsen after the race.

“We had Anders Lund and Matti Breschel in the long break and they both delivered a great effort out there. Fabian showed tremendous strength at the end and won a brilliant victory. It’s a really tough race and it definitely has the potential to become one of cycling sport’s all-time greats. It was a good sign for us to have one of our biggest classics profiles at the top of the podium.”

Results

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 4.34.41 (39.536 km/h)

2 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre – Fondital

3 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team High Road 0.15

4 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30

5 Baden Cooke (Aus) Barloworld

6 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Barloworld

7 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

8 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team High Road

9 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems 0.38

10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30

11 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) LPR Brakes

12 Borghini Longo (Ita) Barloworld

13 Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita) Barloworld

14 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 1.10

15 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) LPR Brakes

16 Steven Cozza (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30

17 Ángel Gómez (Spa) Saunier Duval – Scott

18 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC

19 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team High Road

20 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

21 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner

22 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis – Le Crédit par Téléphone

23 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval – Scott

24 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

25 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC

26 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.50

27 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram

28 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre – Fondital

29 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC

30 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis – Le Crédit par Téléphone

31 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

32 Julien Loubet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale

33 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas

34 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Team CSC

35 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30

36 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare

37 Tiziano dall’Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare

38 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step

39 Francesco Ginanni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

40 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare

41 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Barloworld 2.20

42 Mauro Facci (Ita) Quick Step 4.10

43 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r-La Mondiale

44 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

45 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 5.20

46 Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Col) CSF Group Navigare

47 Christian Murro (Ita) Lampre – Fondital

48 Jure Golcer (Slo) LPR Brakes

49 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis

50 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30

51 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld

52 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas

53 Bert Grabsch (Ger) High Road 7.15

54 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) High Road

55 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Saunier Duval – Scott 8.20

56 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Saunier Duval – Scott

57 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Saunier Duval – Scott

58 Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) LPR Brakes

59 Paolo Bailetti (Ita) LPR Brakes

60 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 9.30

61 William Frischkorn (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30

62 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Team Milram 10.00

63 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step

FILED UNDER: Race Report / Race Result / Road TAGS: Fabian Cancellara / Monte Paschi Eroica