Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo-Tinkoff) took his best result of the season when he finished 2nd behind Diego Ulissi in today's big Italian classic, Giro dell'Emilia. The Danish team was delighted with the performance and admitted defeated to a better rider.

Chris Anker Sørensen has mostly sacrificed his chances for his leaders but in the late-season Italian classics, he has got the chance to ride for himself. He grabbed the chance with both hands when he took his best result of the season by finishing 2nd in today's Italian classic, Giro dell'Emilia.

The Dane did what he does best on the final climb, San Luca. He got into difficulty early on but kept his own pace and got back to the leaders when he passed the flamme rouge. He tried to launch two attacks inside the final kilometre but had no match to the final acceleration from eventual winner Diego Ulissi.

Saxo-Tinkoff played a dominant role throughout the stage. It placed no less than 3 riders in the big 14-man group that stayed away for most of the stage and on the final laps on the finishing circuit with the San Luca climb, Oliver Zaugg rode aggressively.

Sports director Lars Michaelsen was impressed by his team and admitted that they had simply been beaten by a stronger rider.

“We played a really active role during the race and the guys were fantastic," he said. "Bruno Pires was in the first break. Then Nicki Sørensen, Sergio Paulinho and Pawel Poljanski were in the big break and later on, Oliver dug deep in an attempt to go solo before Chris took over in the very finale. He launched a few attacks where Ulissi was able to respond but eventually, he was simply forced to ride his own pace and he finished second. A great effort from the guys who really did what they could to take the win. Ulissi was simply the strongest today."

The Danish team will finish their Italian campaign tomorrow when the exact same riders will ride the GP Beghelli.