Promoters wishing to submit results should send them to cyclingnews
Report courtesy of Brian Stephens, Australian U23 coach
Yesterday the AIS Mapei Aqua team raced the GP Artigiani Sediai e Mobiliere di Grosso and our early season good form continued with a great team effort. Adrian Laidler had by far his best ride in Italy to finish 3rd in fine style against a top level Elite / Under 23 field. He was also awarded first Under 23.
The race started with 5 laps of a 12 km circuit with a moderate hill before moving onto a 24 km circuit with some tough climbs. David Pell was involved in a big crash early and had to change bikes after damaging his brake lever. He crashed again trying to regain the field but was not badly injured. The time lost was too much for him to take further part in the race.
Our adopted Kiwi, Jeremy Yates was involved in the first major break of the day and when it was chased down, tried on his own. He was joined by an Italian but later brought back by the cahsing bunch. Next it was Bruce McIntosh and Adrian Laidler to get involved in a 20 man break with 6 riders getting clear of that group including Laidler.
Unfortunately, 2 of the other members of the break were from the same team, San Paolo. One of them, Alessandro Del Sarto, escaped on his own with his teammate covering the chase group. He stayed clear while Adrian was beaten into 2nd by Stefano Ciuffi from San Paolo. Bruce McIntosh was caught in the last kilometer in his attempt to run 6th and was evenually placed 15th.
Ashley Humbert and Dave McMartland were in the next group but were stopped because they were outside the tight 3% time limit which exists in most races here. Daniel Mackey did not race because of his lingering illness but has been given the go ahead by the doctor to resume normal training and racing. Simon Gerrans withdrew aftrer suffering from asthma during the race.
1 Alessandro Del Sarto (Ita) San Paolo 3.47.22 (41.695 km/h) 2 Stefano Ciuffi (Ita) San Paolo 1.03 3 Adrian Laidler (Aus) AIS Mapei Aqua (1st Under 23) 4 Marco Marzano (Ita) Sintofarm 5 Alessio Ciro (Ita) Pagnoncelli 15 Bruce McIntosh (Aus) AIS Mapei Aqua 3.42 123 starters 17 finishers