Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) claimed his first win of the 2018 season, taking out an uphill sprint win over Team Sky's Diego Rosa on stage 2 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.
Mollema had a strong start to the season with fourth place overall in the Volta ao Algarve, but had a bad Paris-Nice due to an infection. He was pleased to find that he had recovered his form.
"I am happy with the win today, especially after the last two weeks; I was not feeling too good, my blood values were not good, and I was feeling tired all the time," Mollema said. "In Paris-Nice I could see something was off: I didn't have the right legs, and I couldn't train very hard in the last weeks. Luckily in the last couple of days, I already felt much better.
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"Only on Monday evening did we decide that I could start here, and I was not sure about the form and how my body would react to racing again. But yesterday already I felt really good. It's strange how things can change in one week's time."
Rosa finished two seconds behind, but gained the overall race lead after the first stage breakaway riders, Pascal Eenkhoorn (LottoNl-Jumbo) and Lawson Craddock (EF Education First-Drapac) were distanced on the short, punchy 130km stage from Riccione to Sogliano al Rubicone.
In the finale, the peloton tackled a tough climb of the Ville di Monte Tiffi - a 4.7km climb averaging 7.7% - three times, cresting the last ascent with 8.8 rolling kilometers remaining before an uphill push to the line.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/settimana-internazionale-coppi-e-bartali-2018/stage-2/results
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