19-year-old Albanese surprises the stars at Trofeo Matteotti

19-year-old Vincenzo Albanese (Italy) delivered one of the biggest surprises of the 2016 season when he anticipated a reduced bunch sprint at the Trofeo Matteotti. The Italian youngster dug deep to make it over the climbs on the tough circuit and finally beat Manuel Belletti (Wilier) and Davide Vigano (Androni) in a 25-rider sprint to take the first win in a professional race.

Going into the Italian classic Trofeo Matteotti, everybody had their eyes on major Italian stars like Francesco Gavazzi, Marco Marcato, Mauro Finetto, Davide Vigano and Manuel Belletti. The hilly circuit in Pescara was perfectly suited to a reduced bunch sprint and those riders are all known for their fast finish at the end of a tough race.

Things worked out exactly as planned as Androni whittled the group down to just 25 riders and were ready to set Vigano and Gavazzi up for the sprint. However, they were all surprised as 19-year-old Vincenzo Albanese emerged as the fastest.

With wins in two Italian one-day races, a second place at the U23 National Championships, a stage win and a fifth place at the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt, Albanese has had a fantastic season and that had earned him selection for the Italian national team for this race. He went into the event with the plan to work for Marcato but he surprised everybody by taking the vicory.

The 69th edition of Trofeo Matteotti was held as a circuit race over 13 laps of a 14.5km circuit in Pescara for an overall distance of 188km. The course included two small climbs, with the final top coming at the 8km mark. From there a descent led to the final 1900m which were flat.

Due to the busy summer schedule, only 82 riders lined up for the start under a sunny sky. They got the race off to a fast opening phase and it took 17km for an early break to be formed. Tomas Gil (Wilier-Southeast), Michele Gazzara (Norda MG.KVis Vega), Filippo Fortin (MG Europe Sheep) and Mamyr Stash (Gazprom RusVelo) managed to escape and one kilometre later they already had an advantage of 1.11.

The peloton slowed down and so the gap had gone out to 2.55 at the end of the second lap. The escapees continued to increase their advantage which was 4.37 at the 43km mark and 5.40 after 60km of racing.

Androni took control of the peloton and made sure that the gap was still only 5.08 at the 74km mark. The pace was relatively brisk as the riders did the first five laps of the hilly circuit at an average speed of 39.945km/h.

Nippo-Vini Fantini came to the fore to share the work with Androni and they had redcued the gap to 4.50 at the end of the sixth lap. At the end of the next lap, it was 3.51.

Nippo increased the pace to make it hard for their rivals and so the gap was only 2.18 wat the 130km mark. With four laps to go, the Italian national team which was working for Marco Marcato upped the pace even further, with Davide Ballerini riding on the front.

The faster pace forced the front group to react and Stash was distanced after 135km of racing. Moments later, Uniero hit the front in their attempt to set Mauro Finertto up for the win.

Stash was brought back with 3 laps to go where the gap was only 1.07. Gil and Gazzara upped the pace on the climb and this send Fortin out the back door.

The front duo dug deep, trying to keep the gap at 25 seconds. They made it onto the penultimate lap before they were brought back at the 161km mark.

Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani) attacked on the climb but Nippo immediately shut it down. 9 riders then escaped but they were back before the peloton started the final lap.

49 riders had survived at this point and it was now the Androni team on the front, working hard for Francesco Gavazzi. On the climb, they whittled the group down to 25 riders and responded to all the attacks.

Iuri Filosi (Nippo) attacked on the descent and he had an advantage of four seconds with three kilometres. Androni were chasing but the young Italian did well to increase it to seven seconds during the next kilometre.

Filosi was still five seconds ahead under the flamme rouge but he was brought back. It looked like it would come down to a reduced bunch sprint but Albanese delivered a major surprise by making a late attack to take the win ahead Manuel Belletti and Davide Vigano.

With the Trofeo Matteotti done and dusted, there’s a long break on the Italian calendar. The next major race is Coppa Bernocchi on September 14.