Viviani canters to Calabrian title

As on the opening stage, the rising Liquigas-Cannondale star again won a bunch sprint, this time in Reggio Calabria, ahead of Daniele Colli (Team Type-Sanofi) and Maximilian Richeze (Nippo).

"Today’s goal was to be one of the first over the line and more importantly bring home the general classification, explained Viviani.

"Winning the second stage was the icing on the cake, which I did thanks to the incredible work of my teammates. Their trust in me and that of DS Volpi was a massive incentive. I’m really happy with the back-to-back wins but knowing how much my condition has improved is even more satisfying, my stamina on climbs has improved a lot and this was what I hoped for in light of my next races.

A five-man break containing Davide Ricci Bitti (Farnese Selle Italia), Paolo Bailetti (Utensilnord Named), Hideto Nakane (Team Nippo), Enrico Rossi (Meridiana) and Vegard Laengen (Team Type-Sanofi) set the pace for the stage and the quintet powered on to a lead of over four minutes.

Nakane was the first to surrender to the pace, and led by Viviani's Liquigas-Cannondale team, the remaining four riders were absorbed by the chasing peloton with 30km to go.

Viviani finished the two day race eight seconds clear of Colli. Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) and Richeze shared third overall at 16 seconds.

The Italian now takes a break from road racing to compete in the fourth round of the Track Cycling World Cup in London from 17th to 19th February. The Paris-Nice from 4th to 11th March will mark his return to the road.

"These two dates are very important for my season: I want to return to London for the Olympic Games in July, and in France I want to improve my performance in WorldTour racing."

Stage 2: 191.6km, Lamezia Terme to Reggio Calabria.

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 4:45:58
2 Daniele Colli (Ita) Team Type 1-Sanofi
3 Maximilian Richeze (Arg) Nippo
4 Roberto Cesaro (Ita) Meridiana Kamen
5 Gianluca Maggiore (Ita) Utensilnord Named
6 Elia Favilli (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
7 Filippo Baggio (Ita) Utensilnord Named
8 Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre-ISD
9 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox
10 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone

General classification:

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 8:31:28
2 Daniele Colli (Ita) Team Type 1-Sanofi 0:00:08
3 Elia Favilli (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 0:00:16
4 Maximilian Richeze (Arg) Nippo
5 Roberto Cesaro (Ita) Meridiana Kamen 0:00:20
6 Filippo Baggio (Ita) Utensilnord Named
7 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Idea
8 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Type 1-Sanofi
9 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-ISD
10 Federico Rocchetti (Ita) Utensilnord Named