Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver wins the Giro di Lombardia 2012
Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver continuous his tremendous run of form and won the last European World Tour race of the season, the Giro di Lombardia 2012.
The cyclist rode brilliantly during the 251 kilometre race and earned important UCI points towards the end of the season.
The victory has helped the Spaniard to overcome Bradley Wiggins at the UCI World Tour Elite Men rankings.
He has bagged 100 important UCI points and currently holds 692 points with a lead of 91 points on the current Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins.
UCI World Champion, Tom Boonen is holding the third position with 410 points with Vincenzo Nibali (400 points) and Alejandro Valverde at the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Rodriguez also finished first at the La Fleche Wallonne and bagged stages at the Giro d’Italia, Tour of the Basque Country, Vuelta a Espana and the Tirreno-Adriatico 2012.
He finished second overall at the Giro d’ Italia, third at the Vuelta a Espana, second at the Tour of the Basque Country and occupied the sixth overall position at the Tirreno-Adriatico 2012.
It took him 6 hours, 36 minutes and 27 seconds to bag his most recent victory during the 251 kilometre chase to Lecco, Giro di Lombardia.
"This is the most important triumph of my whole career," Rodriguez noted after crossing the finish-line.
He further added, "I was fighting for a double goal today, to win this prestigious competition and to take the lead in the UCI World Tour Ranking, and I managed both. So I'm really happy".
"Today I was feeling in great shape. In fact, I made my teammates work during all the crucial moments of the race”.
“When I saw that all my rivals were tired and I felt so great, I realized I had a great chance to win," said Rodriguez.
"The Villa Vergano uphill suited me a lot," he concluded.
Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez of Team Euskaltel-Euskadi finished 9 seconds behind at the second position with Rigoberto Uran Uran of Team Sky Procycling, Mauro Santambrogio of Team BMC and Sergio Lui Henao Montoya achieving the next three spots respectively.
Top ten finishers after the Giro di Lombardia 2012 are as below,
1
Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
6:36:27
2
Samue Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
0:00:09
3
Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
4
Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team
5
Sergio Lui Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
6
Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Sharp
7
Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8
Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Radioshack-Nissan
9
Albert Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank
10
Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
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