Manuel Belletti got his career as a Southeast rider off to the best possible start when he won his first race in his new colours, the GP Costa degli Etruschi. In the Italian season opener, he survived the two passages of the Torre Sagalari climb before he beat Davide Vigano (Idea) and Niccolo Bonifazio (Lampre-Merida) in a sprint from a 30-rider group.

 

One year ago, the Southeast team – then known as Neri Sottoli – helped Simone Ponzi re-launch his career when the Italian won the GP Costa degli Etruschi, his first race with his new team. Known for its ability to help riders get back on track, the team has the ambition to help sprinter Manuel Belletti copy Ponzi’s performances after the Italian has suffered in the last few years at Ag2r and Androni.

 

It seems that the team has not lost its flair for helping riders to rediscover their best legs as Belletti did exactly what Ponzi did one year ago. The Italian won his first race for his new team when he managed to claim the win in the GP Costa degli Etruschi.

 

The race was once known as an affair for the pure sprinters but that is no longer the case. With two late passages of the Torre Segalari climb and a flat finish, it is now one for the fast finishers who can survive the tough climbing, and Belletti proved that he has taken another step when he made it to the top with the best riders.

 

On the final passage, Rodolfo Torres (Colombia), Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Fabian Wegmann (Cult) managed to escape but fabulous work by Lampre-Merida who were riding for their fst finisher Niccolo Bonifazio managed to neutralize the move just before the top. Wegmann and Francesco Gavazzi (Southeast) both tried to attack on the descent but no could escape the grip of the 30-rider group that was left.

 

The race came down to a sprint from the reduced bunch and here Southeast, Androni and Bardiani all fought hard to position their sprinters. In the end, however, Belletti proved to be the fastest as he managed to hold off Davide Vigano and Bonifazio in the final dash to the line.

 

The race signaled the start of the Italian season which now takes break for a couple of weeks. Racing resumes on February 19 when the Trofeo Laigueglia will offer Belletti another chance to show that he is back to his best.

 

A hilly course

As usual, the Italian season kicked off with the GP Costa degli Etruschi but for the second year in a row, it was no flat opener. Instead, the riders tackled a 190.6km course from San Vincenzo to Donoratico and after a moderately hilly first part with a few climbs, the race got tough in the end. The race finished with two laps of a 19.3km finishing circuit that included the steep Torre Segalari climb and after the final passage, it was only 9.1km of descending and flat roads, meaning that the finale was expected to be a big battle between a reduced peloton and late attackers.

 

137 riders took the start under cold, sunny conditions along the Tyrrhenian coast, with Simone Campagnaro (Meridiana Kamen) being the only non-starter. The race got off to a very hectic beginning and already very early, a crash involving Giacomo Berlato (Nippo), Michele Scartezzini (MG Kvis), Emiliano Faieta (MG Kvis( and Luca Chircio (Bardiani) split the peloton in two.

 

Four riders get clear

While lots of riders tried to attack, the second group fought hard to regain contact and finally the junction was made. Due to the many attacks, the pace was very fast but at the 27km mark, no one had managed to escape.

 

Michele Gazzara (MG Kvis) beat Mattia Frapporti (Uniero) in the first intermediate sprint and those two riders managed to get a gap of 17 seconds. Jacopo Mosca (Italy) and Ricardo Creel (Roth-Skoda) managed to join them and as the peloton slowed down, they built an advantage of 45 seconds at the 34lm mark.

 

More attacks

As the riders hit the first climb, the attacking continued from the peloton, with Artem Nych (Rusvelo), Janos Pelikan (Utensilnord) and Viktor Filutas (Utensilnord) all escaping. While the latter was on his own, Nych and Pelikan combined forces to form a strong chase duo.

 

At the 50km mark, the escapees were 6.55 ahead while the two chasers were just 40 seconds behind. With a deficit of 3.06, Filutas was losing ground.

 

Petacchi makes a move

Pelikan and Nych caught the front quartet while Alessandro Petacchi (Southeast) made a brief attack from the peloton. At the first passage of the line, however, the gap had reached a massive 15.10 and the veteran was back in the fold.

 

While a crash brought down a few riders, two Colombia riders started to chase and now the gap was coming down. They were quickly replaced by Nippo-Vini Fantini who brought the gap down to 14.09 at the second passage of the line.

 

Southeast start to chase

Luca Wackermann (Southeast) was the next rider to go down while Filutas had now lost 7.06 to the leaders. At this point, Petacchi was still clear but now he had decided to wait for the bunch.

 

Southeast had no started to chase with Matteo Busato and Wackerman and they quickly caught the fading Filutas. At the next passage of the line, they had shaved another two minutes off their deficit.

 

The break splits up

Nippo-Vini Fantini and Southeast had now clearly accelerated and at the next passage of the line, the gap was only 5.50. Meanwhile, Creel and Frapporti had been dropped from the front group which was down to just four riders.

 

With 50km to go, another crash brought down Davide Appollonio (Androni), and Filippo Fortin (GM) but they both got back on their bikes. The peloton continued to press on and they now caught Creel and later also Frapporti.

 

Two riders drop off

The GM team was now lending a hand to Nippo and Southeast and with 38km to go, the gap was only 3.35 as the riders started the first lap of the finishing circuit.

 

Southeast upped the pace on the run-in to the climb while the front group split as soon as they hit the slopes. Mosca was the first to lose contact and later Pelikan also got dropped.

 

Lampre-Merida take control

Bardiani was now joining forces with Southeast as the fight for position for the climb was big. At the bottom, the gap was only 2.03 and Nych and Gazzara were suffering in the lead.

 

Petacchi was one of the first riders to get dropped from the peloton as Lampre-Merida were now upping the pace. At the top of the climb, the gap had come down to less than a minute and several riders had been dropped.

 

The break is caught

The pace went down a bit and this allowed the escapees to reopen their advantage to 1.39. However, Lampre-Merida again accelerated and as they started the final lap, the gap was 1.11 while two big groups were following a little later.

 

Cult Energy took over as they approach the final climb and before they hit the slopes, the break was caught. Rusvelo was the next team to hit the front before Eduard Grosu (Nippo) attacked.

 

Cunego makes a move

Roman Maikin (Rusvelo) tried to join him but he failed to make the junction and instead new riders made a move. Damiano Cunego (Nippo) got clear and he was joined by Rodolfo Torres (Colombia) and Fabian Wegmann (Cult) while Grosu had been caught.

 

Lampre-Merida were working hard in the bunch and they caught the three escapees just before the top. At this point, Mauro Finetto (Southeast) suffered a very untimely puncture.

 

Francesco Gavazzi (Southeast) tried to attack on the descent and he was followed by an active Wegmann. However, the duo were quickly caught and from there the pace was kept high until Belletti emerged as the fastest in the sprint.