Lutsenko wins Memorial Marco Pantani

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Report

Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) made it two wins in three days as he added victory Memorial Marco Pantani to his autumn Classics haul. The Kazakh attacked out of the peloton in the final kilometre to catch and pass a three-man break.

Diego Rosa (Team Ineos) took second place, while fellow escapee Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) finished third just in front of the charging peloton.

 The pair had been in the break all day, and looked set to contest the win along with Alexis Guerin (Delko Marseille Provence), who jumped away from the peloton to join them on the finishing circuit in Cesenatico. 

Their advantage edged down in the closing kilometres, from 40 seconds down to 15 under the flamme rouge, but Lutsenko, who had been active earlier in the day, left the peloton behind in the closing kilometre.

The 27-year-old, who won Thursday's Coppa Sabatini with a 75km solo move, caught the break 500 metres from the line, pushing on with a sprint finish to take his tenth win of the season just metres ahead of the peloton.

How it unfolded

After two races apiece in Lombardy and Tuscany over the past week, the Autumn Classics headed east to the Adriatic coast and Marco Pantani's birthplace of Cesenatico.

The 16th edition of the Memorial Marco Pantani saw the customary three ascents of the Montevecchio climb (4.3km at 7 per cent) parcelled out in the middle of the 199.8km race, which ends with a flat 35km run-in.

The combination of tough climbing and flat roads to the coast, ending with four and a half laps of the Cesenatico circuit, usually result in a small group contesting the victory.

The break of the day was established in the opening 20 kilometres, with eight men making it out front and gaining a 6:40 advantage by the 35km mark.

The men in question were Diego Rosa (Team Ineos), Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates), Mattia Bais (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), Quentin Pacher (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Énergie), Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Romain Le Roux (Arkèa-Samsic) and Filippo Zana (Sangemini-MG.Kvis).

Their advantage continued to hover around the six-minute mark as the break tackled the early uncategorised climbs.

Androni stagiaire and runner-up at the Giro della Friuli-Venezia Giulia clearly had a point to prove on his fourth race day with the squad – the 22-year-old led the way over the first two ascents of Montevecchio.

At the midway point of the race, and with one climb remaining, the peloton had a four-minute gap to make up on the leaders, who had been whittled down by the hills.

Rosa, Bais and Martin were the last man standing from the break, with Bais dropping away on the final ascent of Montevecchio. He held on for third over the top though, sealing the mountain classification on the day.

Further back, just 1:30 down the road, attacks were flying as Carlos Betancur (Movistar) kicked off the action. Soon after Betancur was reabsorbed, Davide Formolo (Italy National Team) got away on the climb, and was joined by several others, including the in-form Alexey Lutsenko (Astana).

Rosa and Martin remained out front as the roads flattened out, and with 30km to race they were just 40 seconds up on the chasing group. Bahrain-Merida worked behind, on behalf of their sprinter Sonny Colbrelli.

Alexis Guerin (Delko Marseille Provence) jumped out of the peloton to join the duo with just over two laps – 20km – left to go. The trio worked well together, extending their advantage from 10 to over 40 seconds on the penultimate lap. 

The seconds ticked down in the closing kilometres, from 40 down to 25 with 5km to the finish. The peloton had seemingly left it too late, trailing by 15 seconds as they headed into the final kilometre.

Lutsenko had other ideas though, charging away from the sprinter's teams to catch the leaders, pushing on to another victory. It was a lot different to how he won the Coppa Sabatini, but the end result was the same.

Full results