Russian Team Katusha scored victory in the team time trial of (semi-)stage 1b of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. The team was presented exclusively by Russian riders and was the strongest team in the TTT, ahead of Cannondale and last year’s winners of the TTT at Coppi e Bartali, NetApp-Endura.

By the rules of the race, each team was divided into two groups starting independent from one another. Katusha was divided in two parts– Maxim Belkov, Sergei Chernetckii, Alexander Porsev and U23 World ITT Champion Anton Vorobyev in the first one; Petr Ignatenko, Mikhail Ignatyev and Timofey Kritskiy in the second one.

Result stage 1b:
1 Katusha 13.15
2 Cannondale Pro Cycling 0.05”
3 Team NetApp-Endura 0.08”
4 Lampre-Merida 0.11”
5 Lokosphinx 0.11”
6 RusVelo 0.17”
7 Astana Pro Team 0.21”
8 ASC Dukla Praha 0.22”
9 Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0.23”
10 CCC Polsat Polkowice 0.26”

General classification:
1° Maxim Belkov (Katusha)
2° Sergei Chernetski (Katusha)  0.02”
3° Damiano Caruso (Cannondale)  0.05”
4° Ivan Basso (Cannondale)  0.05”
5° Moreno Moser (Cannondale)  0.05”
6° Paolo Longo Borghini (Cannondale)  0.06”
7° Jan Barta (Team NetApp-Endura)  0.08”
8° Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura)  0.08”
9° Serghey Shilov (Lokosphinx)  0.11”
10° Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Merida)  0.11”