The Slovenian Jan Polanc led the UAE Emirates festival that occupied the first three places in the 59th edition of the Laigueglia Trophy, played over a 202 km route with finish and start in the town of Liguriawhere the Spanish Juan Ayuso was second ahead of his Italian teammate Alessandro Covi.
Ukraine, present
With the race decided by the men from the UAE, Polanc had the honor of scoring the victory, the fourth of his career, ending a drought of almost 5 years without winning, specifically since 2017, when he was proclaimed national time trial champion.
Gazprom was not at the start of Laigueglia, already in application of the UCI’s decision to remove the Russian teams from the competition due to the invasion of Ukraine. And the Droner Hopper Androni came out with the Ukrainian flag on his ‘jerseys’, as a tribute to his runner Andrii Ponomar, 19, national champion on the road.
The race was demanding from the beginning, with the elevations of Vendone, Paravenna (6.7 km at 5.7 percent) and Testico (7.2 at 4.9%) as appetizers before facing a final circuit of 10, 8 km that contained 4 ascents to the walls of Capo Micheri (2 km at 8.2) and as many to Capo Mele (2 km at 3.4). The concentration of walls was in the last 50 km, which was where the show was produced in large numbers. Until then, a breakaway of 6 men from modest teams animated the day. With 61 km to go, the story changed when Ineos and UAE began to set a pace that ended up breaking the peloton into a thousand pieces.
This is how it went for the Colombians
Juan Diego Alba, from Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli, finished in 57th place. Winner Anacona, from Arkea, crossed the finish line in 58th place. Both arrived 5 minutes and 28 seconds behind the leader.
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