Tough Day in the Saddle at GP Lugano

28 February 2016

Race: 70th Gran Premio Città di Lugano

Start/Finish: Lugano / Lugano

Distance: 186 kilometers

Lugano, Switzerland – Team Novo Nordisk took the start line on Sunday for Switzerland’s Gran Premio Città di Lugano. Widely known for its formidable weather conditions, the 186-km 70th edition did not disappoint, with merciless rain and 4°C temperatures besetting the riders for much of the race.

Just after 15km, Serghei Tvetcov (Androni-Sidermec) and Artem Nych (Gazprom RusVelo) pulled away and reached a maximum gap of approximately two minutes before the peloton, led by Lampre – Merida, reeled them at 50km to go. Numerous attacks were made as the group approached the race’s final climb, and inside the final 15km, Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani CSF), Roberto Diego Ulissi (Lampre – Merida), Andrei Solomennikov (Gazprom-Rusvelo made their move, with Colbrelli edging out the quartet to take the win.

Team Novo Nordisk’s Joonas Henttala (FIN) and David Lozano (ESP) finished with the second group, 5:42 behind Colbrelli. “It was a tough race with incredibly cold and wet weather,” Henttala said. “It was fast right from the start, and the 1-2km climbs and wet, technical decent made the race very difficult. We could have done better, but but it’s only the start of the season, and we’ll have a lot more opportunities in the coming weeks.”

Results: