Tinkoff-Saxo played a dominant role in today's Strade Bianche when the accelerations from Daniele Bennati and Christopher Juul-Jensen whittled down the group of favourites to just around 20 riders. In the end Roman Kreuziger showed excellent condition for the upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico when he finished 5th in the race.

The new Italian classic, Strade Bianche – the 200 kilometer long one-day race containing 45 kilometers of dirt roads - was on the menu today for a powerful delegation of Tinkoff-Saxo riders. 

Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli), Angelo Pagani (Bardiani CSF), Davide Frattini (UnitedHealthCare) and Andrea Fedi (Neri Sottoli-Yellow Fluo) moved up the road and away from the bunch to form the long-lasting break of the race while the peloton simply shattered to pieces as clutches of riders were constantly dropped from the back of the pack. Often because of punctures, crashes or wheel damages but most of the time due to exhaustion from the hard pressure in the front of the field.
 
Entering the finale, the escapees were brought back and a new big group was formed including Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger, Daniele Bennati and Christopher Juul-Jensen.  But with 21 kilometers to go, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Michael Kwiatkowski (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) rocketed away from the group to create a dangerous tandem thundering towards the finish line.
 
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger took part in the a four-man chase group with Fabian Cancellara (Trek), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre). But even though the chasers narrowed down the difference, the duo made it to the final climb where Kwiatkowski launched a deadly attack and kept on the pressure and crossed the finish line in superb style.
 
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger finished 5th to demonstrate promising form ahead of next week’s Tirreno-Adriatico.
 
“I think a top 5 result is good and we can happy about the team’s performance today," sports director Steven de Jongh said. "First of all for Roman because of the result and the chase behind Sagan and the strong winner of the race [Kwiatkowski].  But I’m equally impressed by Chris (Juul) who did an amazing job setting things up for Roman and following the favourites this late in the race.

"Chris will now do some training to prepare for the cobblestone classics while Roman showed good form ahead of next week’s Tirreno-Adratico."

Kreuziger will line up in Tirreno-Adriatico as the key support rider for Alberto Contador.