Geplaatst op: 21-03-2016

Diego Ulissi on Tour Haut Var’s podium

TEAM LAMPRE-MERIDA is still chasing that elusive first victory of the season 2016. But even without a win the riders in blue, fuchsia and MERIDA green have scored a number of top results - such as Sacha Modolo's 2nd place at the first stage of the Tour of Qatar, Diego Ulissi’s 3rd overall at the Tour Haut Var in France and Rui Costa’s 5th overall at the Tour of Oman.

After a promising 2nd place in the first stage, Sacha Modolo struggled to find his top speed at the Tour of Qatar. At least TEAM LAMPRE-MERIDA’s sprinter managed to score a top5 result by finishing the final stage in 5th, and he added a 7th place to his tally in the second stage. But he could not find a way to compete for a stage win. To make matters worse the team lost two riders signed at the beginning of this season in Qatar due to injuries: Young Slovene Matej Mohoric could not avoid a crash in the first stage and broke his left elbow. On the fifth and final day Yukiya Arashiro was the main victim of another crash in the bunch, breaking his left femur. Both riders have already undergone surgery and are now focussing on being able to return to competition as soon as possible.

The Tour of Oman is considered as the topographically toughest stage race in the Persian Gulf region. For this reason TEAM LAMPRE-MERIDA decided to compete with Marko Kump and Davide Cimolai as the only two fast men for sprints. From the team’s perspective a proper test of its stage race captain Rui Costa’s shape was more important in Oman than stage wins. And in this regard the stage race can be considered a success: As soon as a finale was leading uphill, the wheat got separated from the chaff and Rui Costa finished in the top10 positions. The Portuguese scored his best result with a 5th place in the queen’s stage up to Green Mountain, which also put him in 5th in the final overall standings - a fine confirmation that Rui Costa is on track for Paris-Nice. At the end of the stage race Marko Kump scored another top10 result by sprinting to an 8th place.

With Diego Ulissi another of TEAM LAMPRE-MERIDA’s key riders has got some good reasons to be happy about his form: After the Tour Down Under the Tuscan competed at two one-day races in his close vicinity. At the 21st edition of the G.P. Costa degli Etruschi Ulissi made it to the finish with an elite group of eleven riders and scored a 3rd place in the sprint of that group. One week later he was one of the favourites at the 53rd edition of the Trofeo Laigueglia, and TEAM LAMPRE-MERIDA worked hard to get its captain into the finale in the best possible position. But with Andrea Fedi one rider managed to get away from the first group and stay away all the way to the finish line. Diego Ulissi crossed that same finish line two seconds later in a nine-rider group, finishing in 6th. This weekend Diego Ulissi was the designated captain at the two-day Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var-matin. A 6th place in the first stage and a 5th place in the second stage meant that he finished this race in 3rd place overall, adding another podium finish to his tally.