Patrik Sinkewitz (Meridiana Kamen) continued his domination of the Italian stage race Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda when he won today's queen stage of the race. Having already won the first stage in solo fashion, the German was equally superior on stage 2 and left all his companions behind on the final category 1 climb to increase his overall lead on the eve of the final stage of the race.

Patrik Sinkewitz has been left frustrated by too easy courses in a number of Italian one-day races this season, having been unable to benefit from his superior climbing skills. Finally, he has found routes more suited to his characteristics in the Italian 3-stage race Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda and he has made the most of the opportunity.

Having already won stage 1 by riding away from his rivals in yesterday's uphill finish, he repeated the feat in today's queen stage of the race. On the final category 1 climb to the finish, no one was able to match his speed and he held off a disorganized chase group to win by 37 seconds.

On the 153,3km stage, the riders had to cover 6 laps on a 10,5km completely flat circuit in the beginning. It all finished in brutal fashion as the riders left the circuit to head to the bottom of the category 1 climb to the finish in Foppolo.

An early break was established on the initial laps but when the riders hit the bottom of the climb, it was all back together. Sinkewitz launched his move on the lower slopes and quickly opened up a big gap.

Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani) was one of the most active riders in the small chase group that formed but the pursuit never got organized with riders launching several individual moves. Hence, no one was able to catch the lone German who crossed the line in solo fashion to continue his domination of the race. Yury Trofimov (Katusha) beat Franco Pellizotti (Androni) in the sprint of the chase group to take 2nd on the stage.

With his win, Sinkewitz his overall lead over 2nd-placed Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil) to 1.12 and finds himself in a comfortable position ahead of tomorrow's final stage. It is mostly flat but finishes with two punchy climbs in Bergamo, the last one leading to the finish. The stage looks like one for the puncheurs while Sinkewitz will only have to stay out of trouble to take home the overall win.

Result:

1. Patrik Sinkewitz 3.38.19

2. Yury Trofimov +0.30

3. Franco Pellizotti +0.33

4. Matteo Rabottini +0.36

5. Radoslav Rogina

6. Gianfranco Zilioli +0.41

7. Jan Hirt

8. Francesco Manuel Bongiorno +0.48

9. Sergey Firsanov +0.51

10. Tomasz Nose +1.00

General classification:

1. Patrik Sinkewitz 7.25.29

2. Radoslav Rogina +1.12

3. Francesco Manuel Bongiorno +1.24

4. Sergey Firsanov +1.27

5. Franco Pellizotti +1.29

6. Gianfranco Zilioli +1.37

7. Tomasz Nose +1.40

8. Jan Hirt +1.41

9. Ivan Rovny +1.56

10. Davide Rebellin +2.16