IAM completely dominated the Italian one-day race Trofeo Matteotti as Sebastien Reichenbach and Johann Tschopp made it a 1-2 for the team. Having joined an early 19-rider group, the Swiss duo were the only riders able to keep the peloton at bay and took a beautiful double win while Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani) signaled his comeback from his Giro crash by sprinting home for third.

Sebastien Reichenback has had an outstanding first season as a professional, performing splendidly in the hillier races and doing a remarkable Tour de Suisse earlier this year. What missed was a win and that victory finally arrived in today's Trofeo Matteotti.

It was all prepared by his veteran teammate Johann Tschopp as the duo joined a 19-rider move early in the race. Constantly upping the pace on the day's climbs, they gradually whittled down the lead group, ultimately being left alone in the lead.

Despite a hard chase from Vini Fantini, nobody was able to catch the Swiss duo and Reichenbach was allowed to cross the line first to take his first win ahead of his experienced teammate. Enrico Battaglin proved that he has recovered from his Giro crash by surviving the many climbs and severe heat to finally launch his incredible sprint, thus taking the final podium spot.

A big group goes clear

The 188,5km race consisted of 13 laps on a 14,5km circuit that contained two climbs and was raced in sizzling heat with temperatures reaching 40 degrees. That did, however, not prevent the riders from riding very aggressively as soon as the flag was dropped and many attacks were launched in the first part of the race.

Finally, 19 riders moved clear as Sella, Rosa (Androni), Starchyk (Amore e Vita), Nepomnyachshiy (Continental Team Astana), Delle Stelle, Di Corrado (Bardiani), Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia), Suarez Suarez, Valencia (Colombia), Reichenbach, Tschopp (IAM), Sokolov (Lokosphinx), Sinkewitz, Kiserlovski (Meridiana Kamen), Van Rensburg, Van Niekerk (MTN Qhubeka), Arredondo (Team Nippo), Zakarin and Ershov (Rusvelo) were allowed to build up a gap of more than 2 minutes.

Vini Fantini chase

Vini Fantini had missed the move and so the yellow-clad team started to chase. That forced the escapees to up the pace on the second lap and that increased pace forced Ershov to lose contact.

At the top of the final climb, 9 riders had distanced themselves from the rest as Sella, Nepomnyachshiy, Delle Stelle, Dal Santo, Reichenbach, Tschopp, Sokolov, Van Niekerk, Arredondo and Zakarin were by now the only leaders, 55 seconds ahead of the peloton. For a long time, Starchyk fought hard to get back on but the Ukrainian never made the junction.

The peloton slows down

The peloton had now slowed down and so the gap went back to almost 3 minutes before Meridiana Kamen slightly upped the pace. However, the advantage continued to increase and reached more than 6 minutes when Vini Fantini decided to step in.

The Italian put its entire team on the front, bringing the gap down to 5.15 with 100km still to go. A few moments later, Arredondo had a mechanical and fell back into the peloton, thus leaving just 8 riders in front of the pack.

Riders fall off the pace

With 5 laps to go, Colombia joined Vini Fantini in their chase efforts and as the gap had come down to 3.05, it appeared as though everything was under control. Sokolov lost contact the next time up the climb and fell back into the peloton while his compatriot Zakarin fell off a little later.

With the peloton approaching, the IAM duo put down the hammer on the climb and only Sella and Nepomniashiy were strong enough to join them. The gap had now stabilized as Vini Fantini was joined by Ceramica Flaminia on the front.

Counterattacks from the peloton

That extra firepower saw the gap come down quickly and with 49km to go, it dropped below the one-minute mark. Andrea Di Corrado (Bardiani) and Alexander Pliuschin (IAM) saw a chance to bridge across while Nepomniashiy fell off the pace in the front group.

Those three riders were all caught and instead Marco Canola (Bardiani) and Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo) made a move. On the 11th lap, Sella fell off the pace and back to those two chasers while the IAM duo was now alone in the lead, bringing the gap back up above the 1-minute mark.

Vini Fantini struggle

As they passed the line to start the penultimate lap, Vini Fantini was clearly struggling and the gap had blown back up to 2.08. Kochetkov crashed out of the chase group while Sella and Canola constantly lost time before being picked up by the Vini Fantini-led peloton.

The final time up the climb, Vini Fantini had lost all their domestiques and so attacks started to go off. The first to try was Andrea Masciarelli (Ceramica Flaminia) and Riccardo Chiarini (Androni) but those two were both brought back. Instead, it was Miguel Rubiano (Androni) and Leonardo Pinizotto (Nippo) who took off and they have more success in their mission, building up a noticeable gap.

Elmiger on the attack

By now, it was clear that IAM would make it a 1-2 for the Swiss team and when their teammate Martin Elmiger bridged across to the chasers, it appeared as though as they could fill up the entire podium. Fabio Felline (Androni) also got across but finally the small peloton got a little more organized and caught that group inside the final 3km.

However, there was no one catching the leading duo and the two Swiss riders rolled across the line side by side with Reichenback crossing the line in first position. Battaglin won the sprint for third to round out the podium on a day that was completely dominated by IAM.

Result:

1. Sebastien Reichenback

2. Johann Tschopp

3. Enrico Battaglin

4. Leonardo Pinizotto

5. Mauro Finetto

6. Ivan Rovny

7. Fabio Taborre

8. Arkimedes Arguelyes

9. Luca Mazzanti

10. Davide Mucelli