Giro del Piemonte  - Report & Photos
On Form Phillipe Gilbert  Untouchable in Fossano Gran Piemonte Finish - Hat trick of wins for the Belgian in 7 days.  Team & Rider Reactions - preparing for Saturday's cycling monument,  Giro di Lombardia

Silence/Lotto's Philippe Gilbert took his third win of the week today. attacking in the final 2 kilometers on the final climb to the finish with only Dani Moreno of Caisse d'Epargne and Lampre's Francesco Gavazzi in tow. Gilbert was untouchable in the final sprint of three for the win.

Luca Paolini (Acqua & Sapone/Caffe' Mokambo) on the three's heels finished fourth and Reinier Honig of Vacansoleil at two seconds to fill out the top 5.

Phillipe Gilbert Celebrates his win. Moreno and Gavazzi second and third.
Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

The victory to day in the Italian Fall classic follows wins in Coppa Sabatini, and Paris - Tours last Sunday; today is his sixth victory of the season which is welcome news for Silence/Lotto who had a frustrating start to the 2009 season that changed direction in a big way for the team with Cadel Evans victory at the world championships in Mendrisio. The win bodes well for the Silence/Lotto rider if his legs and form hold out for Saturday's race of the falling leaves.

Graphic ©RCS - Giro de Piemonte

149 riders were were off to a fast start after the gun was fired by Novi Ligure Mayor Lorenzo Robbiano just before noon today for the 188 kilometer hilly parcours.  Attacks were many but none achieved success until and Alessandro Donati of Acqua & Sapone opened a gap at 27 km which he ran to 4:45 by the 42 km marker.

At km 47 the group followed at  7:10. in between Oleksandr Kvachuk was on a brave (or foolish) attempt to bridge to Donati  and had opened a sizeable gap of on the lethargic peloton. With 52 km done Kvachuk had 5 minutes on the peloton and Donati had run his gap to 9:45 which set the bells off in the peloton.

PVC Disquigiovanni led the chase and soon started having a effect on the two adventurers. Approaching the mid point of the race after 88 kilometers Kvachuk led by 3:15 2with the Acqua & Sapone rider, Donati defying the peloton holding on to a 7:15 gap.

Kvachuk closed in and joined Donati with 73 kilometers to go. behind the peloton continued to be led by the team with the longest name in the pro peloton (PVC Serramenti/Disquigiovanni/Giocattoli) at a fast pace to collect l'échappée who worked well together over four and a half minutes gap ahead of the chase of the blue and white jerseys of PVC S - G/G.

After three hours of racing the duo had average almost 42 km/h and the persistent efforts of the chase at 50 km to go had the gap to 3:18. Behind Cadel Evans was done with his preparation Saturday's Lombardy and pulled the plug for the easy ride in the car into Fossano.

With 38 km to go, the duo's chances began to fade seriously as the gap fell to 1:55. Behind Vacansoleil's serial attacker Johnny Hoogerland attacked and got some company, the gap fell precipitously to 1:13 ad the peloton reacted.

With 20 km to go the margin slips to 40 seconds and with the lads now in the sight of the Hoogerland group who join the duo with 25 km to go. However, with Silence/Lotto and Lampre/NGC leading the stretched out peloton the riders were caught with 18 km  to go after entering Fossano.

Attacks followed, Garmin/Slipstream's French rider Killian Patour took six seconds gap; the Vacansoleil team went to the front and drilled it as they approached the final two kilometers. A counter followed by  Honig, Martens got 4 seconds but they were quickly caught.

90 meters to go... Moreno and Gilbert Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Phillipe Gilbert burst from the front on the final climb with 1500 meters to go, he was  followed by Moreno, Gavazzi and Paolini. In the final it was Gilbert easily passing the others in the final to take the victory.

Gilbert gets the edge on Moreno as Gavazzi moves up but too late...
Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Team & Rider Reactions
Race Winner Phillipe Gilbert,
"I've never been so good; with this form there isn't a  race I can't win.. The Lombardy race?  I'll try, although I don't know the parcours well, I am going to look at it tomorrow."

Dani Moreno 2nd...
“I came back from Mexico in very good shape”, explained Dani Moreno, “and I am lucky because I absolutely had no problem with the jet lag. The entire team did a great job today. We were all the time very attentive because we intended to win today. Nevertheless Gilbert was really powerful when he attacked in the last kilometer. I came back very close in the last meters but it was not sufficient to defeat him.”

Dani Moreno fresh off the Vuelta Chihuahua rode a great race today.
Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

“Now we will concentrate on the Tour of Lombardy which will take place the day after tomorrow. I am very optimistic for that race which belongs to the World calendar. I participated last year for the first time and I was not satisfied with my result. This time I hope it will be different because I now know where the key places are. I hope everything will go in the right way and that on Saturday, just like today, we will also be there fighting for victory.”

Moreno, Gilbert and Gavazzi on the podium.  Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Lampre/NGC
Gavazzi Third
No chances against an outstanding Gilbert in Giro del Piemonte: Gavazzi could only obtain the 3rd place (this is the 9th time in this season). Well supported by the team Lampre-NGC during the whole race, Gavazzi was at the front of the race when the bunch approached the last hill in the last 2000 metres, but Gilbert performed a powerful attack. Only Gavazzi and the Spaniard Moreno could chase and join the Belgian athlete, but Gilbert was the strongest in the sprint too.

Francesco Gavazzi
"We all knew that Gilbert was the main favourite and so everybody's eyes were staring at him. Despite of this, Gilbert could attack in a very impressive way: I gave my best to join him, but I could not overtake him in the sprint".

Cervélo TestTeam
Top result for Cervélo TestTeam today was Volodymir Gustov in 29th position.

Sports Director Alex Sans Vega
"There was a break away of one rider from Acqua & Sapone today. Every team was fighting to be part of the breakaway today but in the end no team wanted to let a big group go, so there was just one rider. At the maximum the rider from Acqua & Sapone had almost 10 minutes on the peloton. Then a rider from ISD closed the gap but the two were not able to stay ahead because Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni was controlling the race and brought the group back with 16 km to go. Then on the last climb Philippe Gilbert from Silence/Lotto attacked with 1.5 km to go and made it to the finish. From our team Volodymir Gustov and Oscar Pujol were part of the main bunch. This was the perfect preparation for Lombardy were we hope to show our strengths for the last time this season."

Saxo Bank
Jens Voigt Stronger With Each Race
Team Saxo Bank's Chris Anker Sørensen, Anders Lund, Gustav Larsson, Alexander Kolobnev, Jens Voigt, Nicki Sørensen and Jakob Fuglsang today participated in the undulating and 184 kilometer long after Italian autumn race, Gran Piemonte. The race is characterized as a warm-up to the last big challenge of the season, Giro di Lombardia which the same Team Saxo Bank will line-up for on Saturday.

But the Gran Piemonte is standing on its own feet through its beautiful and in many ways breathtaking hilly landscape between Genoa in the south and Turin in the north. The race has through the years been won by prominent names such as Moser and Merckx, Coppi, Gimondi and Bugno.

After today's edition of the race, another name was added to list of winners of the race as Lotto rider Philippe Gilbert continued his winning streak by crossing the line first like he did it in last weekend's Paris-Tours.

Sports Director Kim Andersen,
"Primarily, we used the race as a preparation for Saturday's big race, Giro di Lombardia. Perhaps with the exception of Jens (Voigt), who gets stronger with each race he does and it is very good to see him unfold actively and aggressively again to create a crucial breakaway. Now we are looking forward to Saturday's last great challenge on the road.”

Gilbert arrives on the podium. Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Giro de Piemonte Results
Novi Ligure - Fossano
188 km -  4:32:54 - 41.330 km/h
1 Gilbert Philippe 1982 Bel Sil Silence - Lotto - 4:32:54
2 Moreno Fernandez Daniel 1981 Esp Gce Caisse D'epargne - 0:00
3 Gavazzi Francesco 1984 Ita Lam Lampre - Ngc - 0:00
4 Paolini Luca 1977 Ita Asa Acqua & Sapone - Caffe' Mokambo - 0:00
5 Honig Reinier 1983 Ned Vac Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 4:32'56  - 0:02
6 Martens Paul 1983 Ger Rab Rabobank 4:32'56 2 0

7 Usov Alexandre 1977 Blr Cof Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 4:32'58 - 0:04
8 Löwik Gerben 1977 Ned Vac Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
9 Devenyns Dries 1983 Bel Qst Quickstep 
10 Lastras Garcia Pablo 1976 Esp Gce Caisse D'epargne

Complete Results & Photos

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