Sacha Modolo (Bardiani) continued his domination of the Italian sprinting scene when he emerged as the fastest in the bunch kick that decided this year's edition of the Memorial Marco Pantani. By holding off Enrico Rossi (Meridiana Kamen) and Andrea Piechele (Ceramica Flaminia) at the end, he took his second win in a big Italian one-day race this month.

Sacha Modolo has given Lampre-Merida plenty of reasons to be satisfied with their decision to sign the Italian. A little more than a week ago, he won the Coppa Bernocchi in a bunch sprint and today he doubled his tally of recent one-day wins by beating Enrico Rossi and Andrea Piechele in a bunch sprint in the Memorial Marco Pantani.

Pantani may have been one of the greatest climbers but his memorial race often ends in a bunch sprint. That was also the case this year when a strong group that had gone clear on the day's major climb, was reeled in and Modolo left no doubt that he was the fastest rider in the race.

The win was Modolo's 8th in a season tally that also counts 8 stage wins in the Tour of Quinghai Lake.

Two riders on the attack

The 200km started in Lugo and finished in Pantani's home town of Cesenatico. The main challenge of the day was the Monetvecchio climb which was to be climbed three times but the race finished with a couple of flat circuits in Cesenatico and so some kind of sprint finish was the most likely outcome of the stage.

The race got off to a fast start as many riders had intended to get into the day's early move. At the 12km mark, the elastic snapped and Alexander Serov (Rusvelo) and Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini) slipped up the road.

Proni on his own

They had been allowed to build up a 6.54 gap when Lampre-Merida and Team Nippo started to chase. The first time up Montevecchio, Serov fell off the pace and at the top, Proni was 5.30 ahead of the peloton which was led by Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida).

The Italian ProTeam was now doing all the chase work and they caught Serov who decided to sit up. At the second passage of Montevecchio, the gap had been reduced to just 4.00.

A 14-rider group is formed

Ferekalsi Debesay (MTN-Qhubeka) set off in pursuit but his and Proni's gap both started to tumble when they approached Montevecchio for the 3rd and final time. The best climbers decided to attack each other on the slopes and at the top 12 riders had made it up to Debesay.

Fabio Felline, Franco Pellizotti and Patrick Facchini (Androni Venezuela), Kristijan Durasek (Lampre Merida), Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani Csf Inox), Mauro Finetto, Matteo Rabottini and Fabio Taborre (Wines Fantini Selle Italy), Louis Meintjes (MNT Qhubeka), Sergey Firsanov (RusVelo), Alfredo Balloni (Ceramica Flaminia Fondriest) and Patrik Sinkewitz (Meridiana Kamen Team) joined forces with Debesay and at the top, they were only 1.45 behind Proni. With Pellizotti and Rabottini as the main driving forces, they caught Proni and so a 14-rider group was formed.

Dal Santo makes counterattack

Proni and Debesay both fell off the pace and so only 12 riders were left in the front. The group dug deep to stay away but it was all in vain as it was all back together with 12km to go.

Nicola Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia) attacked and he passed the finish line to start the first of two laps on the 5km circuit with a 10-second gap. The peloton was, however, in full pursuit and when they passed the line to start the final lap, it was all back together. Hence, the race was to be decided in a bunch sprint and here Modolo left no one doubting who was the strongest.

Result:

1. Sacha Modolo 4.45.26

2. Enrico Rossi

3. Andrea Piechele

4. Miguel Angel Rubiano

5. Kristian Sbaragli

6. Marco Zamparella

7. Fabio Felline

8. Andrea Zordan

9. Gregory Habeaux

10. Sergey Shilov