Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha) made up for what had been a disappointing performance for Katusha on the first two stages of the Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda when the fast Russian won the third and final stage of the race. Patrik Sinkewitz (Meridiana Kamen) safely survived the easiest stage of the race to comfortably bring home a big stage race victory.

Katusha was the only ProTeam in the 3-day Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda but the Russian team had failed to make a big impression on the race during the first two stages in the mountains as its riders had all fallen out of GC contention. As soon as the race hit flatter terrain, the team made up for their lack of results as sprinter Alexey Tsatevich won the final stage in Bergamo.

The Russian was the fastest in the slightly uphill finish that was perfectly suited to the punchy sprinters. He made the 20-rider selection and held off Mauro Finetto (Vini Fantini) and Franco Pellizotti (Androni) in the final sprint.

The 159,1km stage mostly consisted of 4 laps on a flat 31,1km circuit but finished with two smaller climbs, the final one leading to the finish in Bergamo. The short 1,4km ramp was perfectly suited to the puncheurs and an uphill sprint was expected.

Several teams combined forces to keep everything under control but the late climbs took its toll and only 20 riders were left in the peloton when they hit the bottom of the final ramp. Tsatevich proved that he excels in this kind of finishes as he did when he won the GP Samyn earlier this year.

Patrik Sinkewitz who had dominated the race on the first two stages and no difficulty surviving today's climbs. He finished safely in the bunch to take the overall win ahead of Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil) and young Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani). The win was a reward for the good form that Sinkewitz has recently showed in several Italian one-day races and shows that he is still going strong despite a very turbulent career.

Result:

1. Alexey Tsatevich 3.13.33

2. Mauro Finetto

3. Franco Pellizotti

4. Sonny Colbrelli

5. Davide Rebellin

6. Miguel Angel Rubiano

7. Matej Mugerli

8. Matteo Rabottini

9. Francesco Manuel Bongiorno

10. Gianfranco Zilioli

General classification:

1. Patrik Sinkewitz 10.39.02

2. Radoslav Rogina +1.12

3. Francesco Manuel Bongiorno +1.24

4. Franco Pellizotti +1.25

5. Sergey Firsanov +1.27

6. Gianfranco Zilioli +1.37

7. Jan Hirt +1.41

8. Tomasz Nose +2.03

9. Mauro Finetto +2.10

10. Davide Rebellin +2.16

Points classification:

1. Patrik Sinkewitz 24

2. Franco Pellizotti 16

3. Mauro Finetto 16

4. Davide Rebellin 14

5. Alexey Tsatevich 12

Mountains classification:

1. Patrik Sinkewitz 10

2. Yury Trofimov 5

3. Alexey Tsatevich 2

4. Eduard Vorganov 2

5. Franco Pellizotti 2

Youth classification:

1. Francesco Manuel Bongiorno 10.40.26

2. Gianfranco Zilioli +0.13

3. Jan Hirt +0.17

4. Edoardo Zardini +1.05

5. Louis Meintjes +2.04

Teams classification:

1. Androni 32.02.01

2. Vini Fantini +1.42

3. Ceramica Flaminia +6.39

4. MTN-Qhubeka +6.54

5. Bardiani +8.15