Over 250 kilometers on the attack for Pietrobon, Maestri and Bais in the fastest-ever San Remo

Stefano Zanatta and Mattia Bais had said it when presenting the race: Team Polti Kometa faces the Milan-San Remo with skilled attackers and a fighting spirit to showcase themselves in one of the most prestigious events of the season. From words to deeds, of the ten escapees who animated today’s Classicissima, three were branded Polti Kometa…

Fifteen kilometers after the start in Pavia, a breakaway group was formed, including Andrea Pietrobon, Davide Bais and Mirco Maestri. While teammates Sevilla, Gómez, Lonardi and Mattia Bais worked together to slow down the peloton’s chase, the breakaway lasted for 250 kilometers and was caught only at the top of the Cipressa.

But it didn’t end there! Instead of settling at the moment of reabsorption, Bais took off again, covering another ten kilometers solo only to be caught just before the Poggio. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Pietrobon crashed on the descent. A touch of bad luck in a team performance to be proud of, especially considering the record-breaking 46 km/h average speed.

“We attacked, managed ourselves very well, and in the last hundred kilometers we went all out,” says Davide Bais, who in his second participation in Sanremo, the first after winning at Campo Imperatore in last year’s Giro d’Italia, had a great day. “Our leading group kept getting smaller and smaller until I tried that last push. A really tough race for which we are really happy.”

Sports director Zanatta‘s analysis: “We were super-combative, wanting to be protagonists, going for the breakaway with our men in the best condition, and escaping fiercely from a group that only allowed us a two-minute advantage. If we add to this Davide’s final effort between Cipressa and Poggio, we even exceeded expectations!”