Still two days to go for Team Katusha before Il Lombardia, the last WorldTour race of the season. Tonight ex-winner “Purito” Rodriguez will join his teammates that raced in the Giro del Piemonte. There bad luck of sprinter Jacopo Guarnieri ruined the chances of the team.

Guarnieri punctured at 20 kilometers from the finish, just when the peloton split in different parts. Team Katusha however feels more than ready to defend on Sunday its second place – or do better – in the WorldTour ranking for teams. The victory in Il Gran Piemonte was – with a late attack - for Belgian rider Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) ahead of Italians Matteo Trentin (Etixx – Quick Step) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani – CSF).

"Given the few opportunities that I have in a year, breaking the bike 20km from the finish is bad luck," Guarnieri tweeted after the race.

Same story was in stage 2 of the Tour de l’Eurométropole in Belgium. Bad luck prevented Rudi Selig from participating in the mass sprint after 192,2 kim of racing between Roubaix (France) and Poperinge. The final featured three climbs of the Rodeberg and four of the Zwarteberg. Despite the “Gent-Wevelgem” final, a mass sprint could not be avoided. Team Katusha kept its leader for GC, Anton Vorobyev, in the front. In the end Jonas Van Genechten (IAM) was the fastest sprinter of the bunch. Jurgen Roelants (Lotto Soudal) was second, Louis Verhelst (Cofidis) third.