Bardiani-CSF fastman Sonny Colbrelli won his second race in as many days by taking GP Prato in a bunch sprint from Kristian Sbaragli of MTN and Danilo Napolitano of Wanty.

An early break was established containing Neri Sottoli’s Yonathan Monsalve, Poland’s Lukasz Owsian and Caja Rural’s Arnau Sole. Monsalve beat Sole to the King of the Mountains prize but that was all he seemed interested in as the peloton, led by the Italian national team, gave them a maximum advantage of 1:30.

As they entered the finishing circuit however, they were joined by several riders, leaving the front group as: Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Yonathan Monsalve (Blacks-Alé), Arnau Soe (CajaRural-RGA), Jerome Baugnies and Marco Minnaard (Wanty-GroupeGobert), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg and Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka) Lukasz Owsian (Poland), Francesco Carboni (Area Zero - D'Amico), Ricardo Pichetta (Team Idea), Nicola Gaffurini (Vega - Hotsand). Then came Felix Grosschartner (Gourmeitfein-Wiels), Roman Semyonov (Kazakhstan) and Pierpaolo De Negri (Fantini-Nippo) 16 seconds down. The peloton was 35 seconds down, still led by Italy.

However, this was brought back quickly and Jacques Janse van Rensburg and Luis Leon Sanchez attacked. On the climb, the pace was high and many riders began to get shelled out the back and no more attacks were allowed to go.

The two attackers were brought back with 35km to go and any attacks were tentative and none were allowed a gap. Climbers like Nibali, Rodriguez and Moreno were clearly uninterested in contesting the win and wanted to test themselves in a sprint before the World’s Road Race next week.

This left a big bunch going into the final km and Colbrelli showed his form to take his second win in as many days ahead of Sbaragli, who perhaps regretted joining the earlier move, and Napolitano.