Giampaolo Caruso wins Milano-Torino, Hesjedal 15th

Katusha’s Giampaolo Caruso (Italy) exhibited that he still has his Vuelta a España form as he triumphed in Wednesday’s 95th Milano-Torino, a venerable Italian semi-classic that acts as a warm-up for Sunday’s Il Lombardia.

The Milano-Torino was first raced in 1876, making it one the oldest cycling contests in the world. However, there have been some gaps in the race’s time-line. Most recently it wasn’t held from 2008 to 2011. The course is a fairly flat one until the final 25-km when the field climbs the Superga ascent twice.

The day’s breakaway consisted of Diego Rosa (Italy/Androni-Giocattoli), Jérome Pineau (France/IAM Cycling), Nicola Dal Santo (Nankang-Fondriest) and Gianluca Leonardi (Area Zero). The quartet stayed ahead of the Astana-driven peloton and intact until the first ascent of Superga.

Rosa was able to beat on ahead before the final climb with Tinkoff-Saxo doing the work in the peloton. Rosa, Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) and recent Vuelta champion Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) edged ahead. Then Katusha’s Sergei Chernetckii (Russia) surged, hoping to set something up for one of his teammates. Four Katusha riders finished in the top ten.

The man to make the most of it was Caruso, whose 15th place in the Vuelta marked his second best Grand Tour result out of 11 finishes. Rinaldo “The Walnut” Nocentini (Italy/Ag2r) placed second, his best result of the season. Caruso’s Spanish teammate Daniel Moreno rounded out the podium for the second year in a row, with Aru just missing out on the glory steps.

Ryder Hesjedal looked spruce on Wednesday while placing 15th, 1:05 behind Caruso, finishing as top rider from the Western Hemisphere. He was 12th the last time he rode Milano-Torino in 2012.

2014 Milano-Torino
1) Giampaolo Caruso (Italy/Katusha) 4:30:12
2) Rinaldo Nocentini (Italy/Ag2r) +0:03
3) Danile Moreno (Spain/Katusha) +0:09
15) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Garmin-Sharp) +1:05