12/04/2024

Alexey Lutsenko secures overall victory at Giro d'Abruzzo as Pavel Sivakov wins final stage

Alexey Lutsenko has secured the overall victory at the 2024 Giro d'Abruzzo as Pavel Sivakov took victory on the final stage.

Six riders went clear early, among them the talented young climbers, Jan Christen and Matthew Riccitello. With over 60km still to go however, they'd already been caught by the bunch.

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With just over 50km to go, another interesting move went clear. This time a trio attacked of Pavel Sivakov, George Bennett and race leader, Alexey Lutsenko.

The lead of the trio had extended to around 1:30 as they into the final 20km, and with both Bennett and Sivakov over half a minute down on Lutsenko, overall victory was looking for the Kazakh National Champion.

Heading into the final 10km and that lead had extended to 1:50, meaning Bennett and Sivakov were both in a good position for the final podium too. In what order though, remained to be seen.

On the final climb, Sivakov launched a first, testing attack but couldn't make any difference. As Sivakov and Bennett responded with attack after attack, Lutsenko remained calm, following the wheels. Because of the game playing, their lead had actually dropped to just 1:03 as they moved into the final kilometre.

In the sprint for the line, Bennett opened things up but couldn't hold on to victory as Sivakov powered around, with Lutsenko content to settle for third on the day and overall victory.