Matteo Rabottini happy with the Giro stage victory
Matteo Rabottini was riding the Giro d’Italia with a goal of winning at least one stage at the Italian race.
The cyclist had to face the disappointment during the first two weeks of the event but stayed firm on his objectives.
He finally managed to make it through the strong defences of the Spaniard, Joaquim Rodriguez during the stage 15 of the contest.
The duo fought for the top spot and the battle became intense in the final kilometres of the race but Rabottini proved out to be the best on the day.
He completed the 172 pursuit to Lecco/Pian dei Resinelli in a fastest time of 5 hours, 15 minutes and 30 seconds and overcame Rodriguez with a marginal gap.
Alberto Losada Alguacil of Team Katusha finished 23 seconds behind Matteo and achieved the third position.
Joaquim failed to bag the stage 15, but his second place finish at the race has now earned him the top overall spot after the stage 15 classifications.
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya of Team Sky, Michele Scarponi of Team Lampre-ISD and Ivan Basso of Team Liquigas-Cannondale occupied the fourth, the fifth and the sixth positions in the respective order.
“I came to the Giro with the hope of winning a stage and I made it”, an emotional Rabottini said after bagging the first Giro victory of his career.
“This is the most beautiful day of my life. I owe it to my directeur sportif Luca Scinto and my friend Valentino Sciotto”.
“I’m not like Rambo, but I’m a rider who never gives up. This victory has been built since the last off-season”.
“Scinto has made me arrive at the Giro with the best condition I could hope for. Today he gave me the right advice from the team car,” he concludes.
The 24-year-old is 49 minutes and 36 behind the race leader Joaquim Rodriguez after the stage 15 classifications.
The Italian marked his professional debut with Team Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli in 2011 and is representing the team for the second consecutive season.
He helped the team with the stage 5 victory at the Tour of Turkey 2011 and has already registered the biggest victory for the team in the current season.
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