Jonas Vangenechten (Lotto Belisol) had the rare experience of lining up as defending champion in a major bike race when h put on bib number one for today's GP Pino Cerami. He almost made it two in a row as he finished second behind Alessandro Petacchi and he regretted poor positioning that may have cost him the win.

Jonas Vangenechten usually works hard as part of the Lotto Belisol sprint train and rarely gets his chance to lead the team. Today he got one of those opportunities when he lined up as defending champion at the GP Cerami.

Vangenechten even got very close to making it two in a rows as he finished second behind Alessandro Petacchi who returned to his winning ways in the Belgian race. As it is often the case, the race came down to a bunch sprint on the uphill finishing straight.

However, a dangerous 13-rider group had gone clear in the finale and this had forced Lotto Belisol into chasing mode. This left Vangenechten with little team support in the sprint which may have cost him a second win in the race.

"The script was perfect: two guys in the breakaway and the peloton controlled behind, " he said. "In the finale, we got a little trapped with this large group of attackers that went a few kilometers from the finish. Then the riders who I should have used for the train, had to chase.

"I followed the rest of the team as they closed the gap. Unfortunately, I lost positons in the last corner. I had start to start the sprint earlier than the others because I was in tenth position.

"I had already done a 100 or 200 meters effort when Alessandro launched his sprint. I actually sprinted twice as long as the others. I still thought I could win but I faded at the end.

"This second place is not too bad. I' would have signed for it with both hands before the start of Cerami. However, I would still rather be beaten by a stronger rider if we had started the sprint at the same time.

"Anyway, in a sprint, we know that anything can happen. Moreover, I have not started a race with bib number one for a long time. I had a bit of pressure. Since yesterday evening, the pressure was very evident."