Sacha Modolo wins final stage as Fortunato Baliani takes overall lead in Tour of Brixia 2011
Colnago-CSF Inox team’s Sacha Modolo won the fifth and final stage of Tour of Brixia 2011 on Sunday, July 24. Fortunato Baliani takes overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in Calcinato and ended in Verona. The 24-year-old Italian professional cyclists took a total of 3 hours, 51 minutes and 56 seconds to cover the distance of 164.6 kilometres.
Bernardo Rizzo of d'Angelo & Antenucci – Nippo was runner-up and Koldo Fernandez of Euskaltel-Euskadi finished third with the same timing of Modolo.
After winning the stage Modolo said, "I was able to go early, while Belleti was stuck at the wheel of Guardini, when I jumped with 450 meters to go I immediately knew that I would be able to win. What a great feeling to triumph in Italy and a nice moment
that I want to relish."
Recently, Sacha secured second place in Ronde Van Drenthe. He also took second place in first stage and first place in the fifth stage of Tour of Qinghai Lake.
140 cyclists crossed the final line with the same timing of Sprinter while Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) was in good form and tried to catch the leading cyclists.
However, he failed to maintain his pace and grabbed 141st place with the difference of 2 minutes and 22 seconds ahead of Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas and Cameron Meyer.
A number of breaks formed in the stage which came from the group of six cyclists after ten kilometres to go, including Maarten Wynants, Michel Kreder, Fabio Felline, Marchi Alessandro De, Alessandro Bazzana and Leonardo Pinizzotto.
All of them managed to gain a lead of 10 seconds but after 36 kilometres all of them were caught by the peloton. However, the group of nine cyclists formed and built a gap of 1 minute and 2 seconds. In the last few kilometres, two cyclists including, Francesco
Ginanni (Androni Giocattoli-CIPI) and Rubens Bertogliati (Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis) got away.
The trio worked together to build an advantage of 2 minutes and 56 seconds. However, in the final kilometres, Sacha Modolo increase his pace and launched an attack and crossed the finish line ahead of the other cyclists.
Modolo further added, "This is my third win in less than 20 days, I feel like a different rider. We from Colnago dominated the Brixia Tour, with four stage wins."
Fortunato Baliani of d'Angelo & Antenucci – Nippo took the overall lead with the timing of 20 hours, 4 minutes and 52 seconds. Domenico Pozzovivo of Colnago - CSF Inox was runner-up with 2 minutes behind the Italian.
Diego Ulissi of Lampre – ISD finished third with the difference of 2 minutes and 19 seconds ahead of Michael Rasmussen and Davide Rebellin.
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