27 men sprints it out on the Cesenatico seafront to remember the late Giro and Tour hero
Fabio Taborre (Acqua & Sapone) took his second victory of the season, having won the GP Citta di Camaiore in August, by taking the eighth Memorial Marco Pantani in Cesenatico. The 26-year-old was the best of a 27-man group that escaped the main body of the peloton on the hilly Emilia Romagna parcours and staying away to sprint on the seafront of the Adriatic hometown of the late Giro d’Italia and Tour de France winner. Davide Rebellin (Miche-Guerciotti) was second, just behind Taborre in the long, flat sprint, with Daniel Martin (Garmin-Cervélo) taking third.
The 183.7km race was centred around three laps of a 35.6km circuit, based on the steep climb to the 369 metre high Montevecchio. 20km into the race, on the flat approach to the circuit, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Davide Ricci Bitti (Farnese Vini-Neri-Sottoli), Alberto Contoli (Colnago-CSF Inox) and Davide Torosantucci (D'Angelo & Antenucci Nippo) escaped to form the first break of the day.
As Torosantucci led the foursome over the top of the Montevecchio for the first time, after 52.4km, they led the peloton by 3’20”. By the second time across though, after 87km, the gap had been reduced to 2’40” and continued to come down as the fugitives entered the third and final lap.
On the third climb of the Montevecchio, with the peloton bearing down on the leaders, Nibali attacked and the 2010 Vuelta a España winner set off up the climb alone. Ricci Bitti was the first to be absorbed by the chasing group, as his Farnese Vini-Neri-Sottoli teammate, Italian champion Giovanni Visconti, led the charge from behind. It was Rebellin that managed to break away from the rest though, and as Nibali crested the top for the final time, he was just 16 seconds ahead of the Miche-Guerciotti rider.
On the descent Rebellin managed to catch the Sicilian, along with a number of others, to form a 13-man lead group that included Visconti’s Liquigas-Cannondale teammates Ivan Basso and Damiano Caruso, his Vuelta successor Juan José Cobo (Geox-TMC), Rebellin’s Miche-Guerciotti teammate Stefan Schumacher and Emanuele Sella (Androni-Giocattoli).
On the short sharp climb to Longiano, as the race made its way towards Cesenatico on the coast, a number of others joined the group – including Martin and Garmin-Cervélo teammate Christophe Le Mével, Taborre, and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) – until there were 27 in the lead.
As the lead group crossed the finish line on the Cesenatico seafront, to begin the four, flat 5.3km finishing circuits, it led the chasing peloton by 1’12”. With a number of strong teams represented in force in the front group, it managed to hold on to its lead. As Taborre won the sprint ahead of Rebellin and Martin, the peloton had given up the chase, and crossed the line some 1’52” behind, with Sergei Rudaskov (Itera Katusha) taking the sprint for 28th.