A few weeks after his overall victory at Settimana Coppi e Bartali, Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) confirmed that he will be one to watch at the Giro d’Italia by claiming an impressive solo win at the Giro dell’Appennino. Having bridged across to Eduard Prades (Caja Rural) on the penultimate climb, he dropped his companion on the final ascent to solo across the line with a 25-second advantage over a 7-rider chase group. Francesco Gavazzi (Androni) beat Mauro Finetto (Uniero) in the sprint for second.

We have gathered a few reactions.

In-form Sergey Firsanov: Now I can go to the Giro in good condition

"It was decided on the penultimate climb where everyone started to attack,” Firsanov told Spaziociclismo. “A rider from Caja Rural was in front, and I was able to get back twenty kilometers from the finish. When I was alone, I was afraid that I would get caught because there was still a long way to the finish but I held on and I managed to reach the finish.

“Up until the first ascents, I had my own “bodyguard”, Alexander Serov, and I used almost no extra energy. In the mountains, I did not feel particularly well at first and wasn’t even thinking about victory. But, towards the end I felt better and everyone on the team was helping me, so I reenergized myself and lived up to everyone’s hopes.”

After the triumph at the Coppi and Bartali in May, the Russian climber will do his first grand tour.

"I did not expect to do two things so important and now I go to the Giro d’Italia in good condition and we'll see how it goes day by day. I will try to do my best, but tomorrow I’ll go to the Giro del Trentino, the last event before the Giro.”

General manager of Gazprom-RusVelo, Renat Khamidulin, is very content:

"For us it is a source of great pride win another italian classic race like Giro dell’Appennino. Today we were calm for most of the race and the team worked very well. In the end we were able to play our cards and to collect this great satisfaction. I’m happy of this prestigious goal and because we were able to confirm our growth. I’m also very happy to repay the trust of our sponsors, first of all our partner Ernesto Colnago

"This is an important step to present ourselves at the start in the best way at the upcoming Giro d’Italia. Now we will focus on the Giro del Trentino and the Tour of Croatia, hoping to do fine as well there."

Altitude traing pays off for Francesco Gavazzi in Italian hills

"It was a challenging race on a tough course,” Gavazzi told Spaziociclismp. “There was wind and then we got rain. We went has all day, without a moment of respite. In the end it was really hard. Today we were hoping to win. On Wednesday we left the altitude camp in Sestriere and so the whole team had a good feeling. In fact we were 4 out of 15 in the finale. Unfortunately we looked a bit too much  at each other and at the crucial moment Firsanov gained the advantage. We have to settle for second place . "

Mauro Finetto: Firsanov was amazingly strong

"When the Russian attacked, there were still twenty kilometers left,” Finetto told Spazioccislmo. It was still so much and there were four riders from Androni in the group and I thought it was too early. But it was long for us, not for him. I can only congratulate Firsanov who has really proven to be very strong . ”

 
“I have no regrets for the sprint. I started a bit too early and missed a few centimeters but it was for second place and when you can’t win, It doesn’t change much whether you finish second or third.

"When Firsano had attacked, I tried to move on the last climb but there was so much wind. In fact , this shows that Firsanov has made ​​a large performance because every time you tried to attack, the wind bounced you back. Now I go to the Giro Trentino, with the blue jersey of the national team. I thank national coach Cassani for this opportunity and hope to try something in one or two stages. But it will be tough because the course is for pure climbers and it is at the limit of my characteristics. But if I arrive at the top, I'd like to win a stage: I was given this great opportunity and for the national team I will give 110%.”

Simone Petilli confirms huge climbing potential at Giro dell’Appennino

It was an interesting result seen with a future perspective for the young climber of Lampre-Merida Simone Petilli in the Giro dell'Appennino. The twenty-two year old Italian talent obtained 7th place.

Lampre-Merida that could not line up Feng because of thefly lost one of its most precious riders in the descent from the Passo della Bocchetta where one of the many crashes involved Durasek got involved: he quit the race because of bruises and abrasions that don’t seem to be serious.

The descent from the Passo della Scoffera and the climb of Colle Caprile created a group of 26 riders and in this group, Lampre-Merida had Petilli and Grmay who supported his team mate in the approach to the Ruta di Camogli where the group chasing Firsanov was reduced to 7 riders.

The Russian rider was out of reach, so the members of the chasing group battled for a place on the podium: Petilli was aware of the fact that he was not as fast as other riders of this group and so he decided to anticipate the sprint by attacking in the final kilometer. However, the opponents controlled him.

The rider from Lampre-Merida was 7th.

"The rain made the race more demanding as did the high pace,” sports director Marco Marzano explained. “Even if we did not obtain a place on the podium, we had good feedbacks from Petilli, who demonstrated again his good form and his skills in managing his energies in a race. We also had interesting info from Grmay, fairly good performances for Niemiec and Meintjes. There was important support to the tram by Xu in the early part of the race. Durasek's condition is not serious so he can recover for the next appointments.”