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cycling: Trofeo Laigueglia: Simone Velasco celebrates the greatest success of his career

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Velasco Simone Trofeo Laigueglia

Cycling: The Italian road cycling season has begun and Simone Velasco (Neri Sottoli - Selle Italia - KTM) has got off to a perfect start. The 23-year-old Italian won the one-day Trofeo Laigueglia as a soloist in front of a small group of pursuers. In this, the Swiss Kilian Frankiny (Groupama – FDJ) sprinted to seventh place.

Velasco Simone Laigueglia

The Trofeo Laigueglia opens the Italian season

Racing bikes have been rolling on the streets of this world again for a few weeks now. The Italian season officially opened today. Traditionally, the Trofeo Laigueglia gives the starting signal in February. The pros covered 203,7 kilometers around the Italian municipality of Laigueglia. On the Ligurian coast, the four final rounds were particularly tough. The climbs Capo Mele and Colla Michieri, which are around two kilometers long and eight percent steep, stand in the way of the 11,5-kilometer loop. Since there were only four kilometers to go from the last summit of the day to the finish line, pure sprinters had no chance and therefore did not start at all. Last year's winner Moreno Moser (Nippo - Vini Fantini - Faizanè) was in the squad, but was unable to play a decisive role in the fight for victory in the 56th Trofeo Laigueglia.

With a 40 km solo to the greatest success

The closer the professionals got to the goal, the smaller the groups became. On the final circuit in Laigueglia, the peloton fell apart completely. There were several attacks. Finally, the still rather unknown Simone Velasco (Neri Sottoli – Selle Italia – KTM) drop a bit. Since there were still around 40 extremely demanding kilometers to be completed, the pursuers speculated that the only 23-year-old would collapse and then catch up. But Simone Velasco did not do this favor to his pursuers, who were increasingly at odds. On the contrary: The Italian continued his solo ride over the final laps and was very happy when he crossed the finish line with a lead of 42 seconds. After crossing the finish line, he collapsed from exhaustion and joy with tears in his eyes. Meanwhile, the Swiss drove Kilian Frankiny (Groupama – FDJ) achieved a respectable result with seventh place.

Simone Velasco enters the well-known list of winners

2015 won Simone Velasco at the age of 19 the rather unknown Italian one-day races Trofeo Fratelli Anelli and the GP Festa del Perdono. That's why he wasn't one of the favorites at the Trofeo Laigueglia today. No wonder, because the Italian one-day race, which was held for the first time in 1964, has so far mostly been won by well-known professionals. Among other things, they were allowed to Eddy Merckx, Lance Armstrong and Johan Museumw enter in the list of winners. In recent years, however, the race has been increasingly dominated by Italian professionals. Only the Colombian Jose Serpa managed to win in 2014 as a non-Italian in the last twelve years.

Tags:Kilian FrankinyNewsSimone VelascoTrophy Laigueglia

More than Michael Behringer

Cycling with all its tactics, stage analyses, placements and forecasts are Michael Behringer's great passion. In 1996 he tracked his first Tour de France. Since then he has observed almost every race. His passion for cycling has been with him for over two decades. There is no end in sight.