Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) won the second stage of Adriatica Ionica today – which was 152 kilometres from Lido di Jesolo to Maser – in a bunch finish and therefore increased his overall lead. It marked the tenth individual win for the Italian this season
Three riders – Matteo Draperi (Sangemini-MG.Kvis), Enrico Logica (Biesse Carrera) and Javier Montoya (Trevigiani Phonix) – formed today’s breakaway and it didn’t take too long before they carved out a hefty lead of four minutes.
Victorious on the opening stage, Quick-Step Floors marshalled the front of the peloton and began chewing into the leaders’ advantage, clawing back considerable ground by the time they left behind the second classified ascent. The escapees were pegged back before the hilly circuit around the Asolo climb and attacks came with ten kilometres to go, when Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) and Marco Canola (Nippo-Vini Fantini) opened a ten-second gap which they carried onto the fast descent to Maser.
The catch was made under the flamme rouge, thanks to the work of Niki Terpstra, and Elia Viviani measured his sprint perfectly and put in a rapid acceleration, beating Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) and Mihkel Raim (Israel Cycling Academy) for Quick-Step Floors’ 40th victory since the start of the season. Thursday’s result helped the Italian maintain his leadership in the general classification, while at the same time netting him the points jersey ahead of the race’s queen stage, to Passo Giau.
“We got the best possible start in Adriatica Ionica,” said Viviani. “Yesterday we were really flying, close to averaging 55km/h on the TTT. The guys have done an amazing job in Lido di Jesolo and today was the same story. There was a question mark tagged to this stage, as we weren’t sure I would be there after the final 1.7km climb, but in the end I survived and was felt well enough to do the sprint.”
Viviani was full of praise for his teammates: “Asgreen and Martinelli did an amazing job pulling all day in the front and keeping things under control. Then, in the final kilometres, Niki supported me perfectly and in the sprint I just jumped on the wheel of Consonni and used him to launch my sprint.”
“I have recovered well after the Giro d’Italia and am really pleased with my season and this 11th victory. Every next win is a personal record and I have no intention of stopping here. Also for the team it’s been a fantastic season, with 40 UCI victories in total, and we are keen on keeping the focus in the second part of the year and continue adding more wins to this extraordinary tally”, Viviani concluded.
