Sunday Roundup

GP Industrie del Marmo

Luca Benedetti (Begnoni) won the UCI 1.2 GP Industrie del Marmo in a mass sprint over last year's winner Thomas Fiumana (Petroli-Firenze) and Caleb Ewan (Australia). Benedetti has been on fire this season, winning 6 races, and as he is turning 25 in June, this is a crucial year for him to try and gain a pro contract.

Taking place on the Liguarian coast in Carrara, the GP Marmo featured a mix of climbing and flats that made the race difficult but didn't allow for a group to get away. Benedetti overcame Fiumana in the final sprint and Ewan continued his strong season with another podium place in his first U23 season.

Photo from finish via ciclismoweb.it

Tour de Bretagne Stage 4

Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-iHNed) took advantage of the uphill finish and out sprinted Maxime Renault (Selection Bretagne) out of the last corner to take the win on stage 4 of the Tour de Bretagne in Fougères. Alaphilippe had been close before this season but was finally able to get his first win of the season with his Etixx-iHNed squad and his first UCI win since his stage win at last year's Coupe des Nations Ville de Saguenay.

The stage featured a breakaway of four including Dylan van Baarle (Rabobank Development), Sam Spokes (Etixx-iHNed), Jan Sokol (Gourmetfein-Simplon) and Nicolas Rousseau (Sud Gascone). The quartet of riders got a decent sized gap but were brought back as the race hit the finishing circuits. As the favorites starred at each other, Alaphilippe and Renault surprised everyone and attacked. Hitting the final corner first, cyclo-cross specialist Alaphilippe sprinted and posted up for the win. Riccardo Zoidl still holds the overall lead by 6 seconds over Nick van der Lijke.

In other races...

• Convicted doper Tino Zaballa (Christina Watches) won the Destination Thy 1.2 race after outsprinting his three breakaway mates. U25 rider Roy Eefting won the group sprint for 5th while Christian Bertilsson (People4You-Unaas) was the top U23 in 12th.
• Brian van Goethem (Metec CT) won the Zuid Oost Drenthe Classic II out of a break of four. Very impressive season so far for the Zeeland native. Coen Vermeltfoort (De Rijke Shanks) won the chasing group sprint for 5th while Antoine Demoitie (Wallonie Bruxelles) beat out Wouter Wippert for the peloton group sprint for 20th.

Nechita (r) and Penasa (l) celebrating the win (Photo: Ciclismoweb.it)

• Zalf-Euromobil dominated one of their home races at the 58th MO Frare De Nardi where they went 1-2 and put 5 riders in the top 10. Romanian Andrei Nechita took the win with his teammate and breakaway companion Pierre Paolo Penasa right behind him in 2nd. Simone Andreetta and Andrea Zordan came 4th and 5th in the sprint for 3rd, which was won by Matteo Colledol (Marchiol). A perfect way to make up for Federico Zurlo's antics yesterday.
• Hincapie Develpoment rider Robin Carpenter won the hilly RR stage at the Joe Martin stage race on Saturday and finished the race 14th overall on Sunday behind Optum-KBS rider Chad Haga. The former Chipotle Development rider won the young riders jersey for his efforts while his team won the team classification
• In a rainy and cold race, Miguel Angel Benito (Caja Rural Amateurs) won the penultimate Copa de España race, the Memorial Rodriguez Inguanzo, after spending 90 kilometers in a breakaway with four others. A thorough write-up of the race is available on Biciciclismo. Airan Fernandez (Coluer) took the Copa de España lead back from French Basque Loïc Chetout (Naturgas Energia) but his lead is quite slim with only one event left, the Premio Santa Cruz de Lezgapi in the Basque Country on Wednesday.