Team Polti Kometa ends the “Coppi and Bartali Week” with Double 13th and Gómez in breakaway

Until the last meters of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, Team Polti Kometa (remaining with six men after Garosio’s withdrawal to which today’s DNF of Javier Serrano is added) follows a script characterized by liveliness and endurance. In the final stage, Germán Gómez enters a 7-men breakaway that tackles the fivefold circuit around Forlì, then leaving the spotlight to Paul Double, who helps neutralize attacks in the last thirty kilometers and finishes 13th both in the stage and general classification at the Glauco Servadei velodrome.

The English climber thus closes, remaining 36 seconds behind the final winner Bouwman and gaining two more positions: “I admit I would have liked to gain some stronger satisfaction,” comments Double, “but I certainly can’t be disappointed with how I rode! On the last uphill in Bertinoro I tried to accelerate, but I encountered a headwind and had to stay in the main peloton which contested the sprint.”

Gómez: “We knew it would be an intense day, with two steep climbs like Polenta and Via Gualdo to be repeated several times. It took strong legs to get into the breakaway, I succeeded and then I tried to support Paul. The absence of too tough and long ascents didn’t allow for much difference, but I would say it was a good team performance, and that’s what matters.”

Sports director Giovanni Ellena: “If he hadn’t had a puncture, Diego Sevilla would have also been in contention in the finale. Apart from this setback, we take home the good Polti Kometa seen in these five days, a constantly improving squad.”