Manuel Belletti wins short, sharp Coppi-Bartali opener

Manuel Belletti (Colnago-CSF Inox) won the opening semi-tappa of the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, based a circuit around the Emilia Romagna coastal resort town of Riccione. The local rider who, like the late Marco Pantani, hails from nearby Cesena outsprinted the peloton at the end of the short, fast, 81.2km stage. Andrea Grendene (Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis) and Ukrainian Volodymyr Bileka (Amore & Vita) finished second and third.

“It’s always nice to win on my home roads,” said Belletti afterwards. “Before the final corner I was on my teammate [Filippo] Savini’s wheel; then I followed the Liquigas[-Cannondale] train as it set up the sprint for [Daniel] Oss. I was take to 300m to go, I was pushed to the right; despite the headwind and being boxed in I managed to open up my sprint and managed to win over Grendene and Bileka.”

Today’s victory was Belletti’s second of the season so far, after his success in the third stage of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria. “I dedicate today’s victory to my father Massimo,” he said, “who has suffered a lot and had to have surgery. Things are better now and fortunately he is recovering.”

The big name missing as the peloton rolled away from the start was two-time race winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD), who withdrew yesterday with an inner ear infection.

Almost immediately there was an attack from Johan Estaban Chaves (Colombia es passion-Café de Colombia) and Luca Fioretti (Ora Hotels-Carrera), who opened up a lead of 1’48” by the 20km point. There was a counterattack from Niv Libner (Amore & Vita), who tried to bridge across to the two riders, but he was unable to get close to them as their lead rose to 2’47” at the start of the fourth of nine laps.

As the leading duo crossed the line for the fifth time, to start lap six, the peloton had cut the deficit to just 1’04”; at the summit of Via Scacciano, which was climbed every lap but only counted towards the mountains competition on the sixth one, it had stabilised once more at 1’11”. With the peloton now determined though, the breakaway’s days were definitely numbered.

With the peloton breathing down the breakaway duo’s necks, and with their capture almost imminent, Chaves attacked Fioretti and set off alone. The Italian rider was quickly absorbed by the peloton but Chaves managed to draw his lead out a little longer; as he crossed the line at the end of lap six he held a slim 21 second lead but was finally caught a few kilometres later with just over 25km to go.

On the penultimate lap Matteo Fedi (De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia) put in a solo attack; as he crossed the line at the start of the final lap he held a slim 14 second lead but was caught just 2km later.

Once Fedi had been caught the peloton stayed together for the remainder of the lap. Despite the arrow straight finishing straight on Riccione’s seafront Viale Torino, there were two crashes in the closing stages; Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli), the sprint sensation of the season so far, was one of the key victims.

Belletti managed to avoid the carnage though, and took the victory ahead of Grendene and Bileka; the 25-year-old takes the race lead, which he will carry into this afternoon's team time trial.