Fabio Duarte has had a quiet time since the Giro d'Italia but today he showed signs of life when he launched a strong attack in the finale of Tre Valli Varesine. The Colombian is building his form for his big goal, Il Lombardia.

Team Colombia’s Fabio Duarte produced a dogged performance at the 94th Tre Valli Varesine, the last race of Trittico Lombardo. The Colombian rider – which won the Under 23 World Championship on these roads in 2008 – was a protagonist of a surprising attack with 40km to go.

Swiss Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEDGE) claimed a prestigious success in the Italian one-day race, ahead of Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF) and Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) whilst Rodolfo Torres, 21st on the finishing line, was the best placed Team Colombia rider in the action.

The 6-man breakaway group which characterized the early phases of the race – Dyachenko (Astana), Carboni (Area Zero), Sprengers (TopSport Vlaanderen), Garcia (Caja Rural), Mihaylov (CCC Polsat) and De La Cruz (NetApp) – was caught by the peloton, guided by Cannondale, Orica GreenEDGE and Bardiani-CSF, with 70 Km to go.

Then, 5 more athletes moved on the attack reaching 1:30 maximum advantage, but Astana and Cannondale led the chase. With 3 lap to go, Colombian Fabio Duarte moved from the bunch and and reached the escapees, but the peloton took the charge to hook-up the breakaway group with 2 laps to go.

The race was decided by a strong attack of 11 athletes with Pozzato, Albasini, Colbrelli, Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani-CSF) Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) and Mauro Finetto (Neri Sottoli). In the last lap, Gasparotto and Bongiorno slipped on the treacherous roads and 9 riders had the chance to contest the success in the sprint won by Albasini.

“I feel satisfied with Fabio Duarte’s performance," Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi said. “Our goal was to anticipate the favourites for the win and Fabio did the job. The guys are growing in view of the Giro di Lombardia, the most important goal in the last part of the season."

On Sunday September 21st, the action will continue at the Memorial Pantani around Cesenatico, Italy.