Strade-Bianche 2013


A very new addition to the European calendar, 1.1 ranked Strade-Bianche, in its 7th edition finally got an Italian winner. Moreno Moser of Cannondale clinched not only his first victory of the season but the most important one of his career as well.

Within the last 20 kilometers, the 22 year-old Italian made a successful attempt and with 15km to go, got to the backwheel of  Flecha, who was relentlessly chasing the 4-rider breakaway group.  Moser’s attack changed things dramatically as well in the breakaway group and after some attacks within the 4 riders, things eventually settled when Moser managed to catch Schar and Belkov from the original breakaway and once again formed a 4 rider group. But it was Moser who was hiding in the peloton most of the race compared to the other original riders in the breakaway group, so when they hit the last hill with a kilometer to go,  Moser easily pushed himself ahead and soloed to his greatest victory so far.

Within the bunch of main contenders, Peter Sagan burst clear to snatch the second place, whereas it was Rinaldo Nocentini who got the last spot in the podium out-sprinting last year’s winner Fabian Cancellara and Alexander Kolobnev. Could Sagan catch the breakaway group if it was not his team-mate Moser? We’ll never know that but that was a wonderful day for team Cannondale and the new generation of cyclists in their early 20s.

Strade-Bianche 2013 results:

1. Moreno Moser (Cannondale Pro Cycling) 5:01:53
2. Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) 5″
3. Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) 7″