Roberto Ferrari relieved after the Giro d’ Italia stage win
Stage 11 victory at the Giro d’ Italia 2012 has helped Team Androni Giocattoli with a much needed victory during the 11th stage of the race.
Roberto Ferrari finished the 243 kilometre chase to Montecatini Terme in an impressive time of 6 hours, 49 minutes and 5 seconds.
Francesco Chicchi of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step finished at the second position with Tomas Vaitkus of Team Orica-GreenEdge occupying the third position.
Ferrari was responsible for a massive crash during the stage 3 of the race involving a number of cyclists including the stage 2 winner, Mark Cavendish.
Cavendish was furious on Roberto’s move as he was close to mark his second consecutive victory at the Italian Grand Tour.
Roberto apologised to the reigning world champion before start of the stage 4 and is now relieved after the stage victory.
He explained, "I really wanted to win a stage because I wanted to show that I had the legs to win a stage that day [stage 3]".
"I didn't mean to do what I did, and I'm still apologising for what I did”.
“Unfortunately, it was the kind of manoeuvre that happens a lot in a sprint and we only talk about them when there's a crash".
“In the last kilometre when I was alongside Cavendish, he gave me a look and I understood what he meant but you know”.
“I'm a sprinter and the important thing is to do your sprint”.
It is the fourth cumulative victory for the 29-year-old; his first win came during the Route Adelie 2012.
He also occupied the first overall spot at the Fleche d’Emeraude and finished fifth during the Tour de Taiwan.
The Italian also filled his bag with 25 UCI points during the race while Francesco Chicchi, Tomas Vaitkus, Mark Cavendish and Manuel Belletti achieved the next four positions with 20, 16, 15 and 12 points respectively.
Team Omega Pharma-QuickStep achieved the top spot during the 11th stage with Team Sky, Team Vacansoleil-DCM and Team Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela achieving the next three positions.
The Italian is currently lying at the 10th overall spot after the stage 10 classifications and is determined to take its performance to the next level during the coming stages of the Italian race.
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