The return of Ulissi

Ulissi and his Lampre team were clearly emotional about the successful return at the finish line. The Lampre riders year turned sour after a brilliant Giro in 2014 when he tested positive for excessive levels of Salbutamol and he was ultimately suspended for 9 months and free to return to racing in the Tour of the Basque Country. His spring has been anonymous until today when he came across a stage that suited his qualities to a t. A long sapping stage with a demanding finish that eliminated much of the fast opposition with a long continues uphill that sent tired riders out the back. The strong Ulissi though had enough of a sprint left in him to hold off even specialists like Gerrans.

You'd like to be able to say that a lot happened on a stage that was longer than any Monument but the fact is that it was a predictably pale stage. A hopeless breakaway got away, the peloton chugged along slowly in the headwind and the break was caught in comfortable time to set up the finale. Cannondale did theirs to catch the break but got nothing out of it, Tinkoff took the front to keep Contador out of trouble and then Lotto dictated the pace in the final kms to see if maybe Greipel could be a factor in the sprint. He couldn't. Orica led out Gerrrans but no one could answer the late surge by Diego Ulissi. The End.

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