Damiano Caruso wins Giro di Sicilia after conquering Mount Etna

Damiano Caruso has completed a successful week in Sicily as he took to stage wins at the Giro di Sicilia, taking today the win in the queen stage and conquering the overall classification at the service of the Italian national team.

The day was meant for the climbers and there was no doubt that the battle in Mount Etna would decide the overall classification. As race leader Fran Miholjević got dropped early on in the final climb, the Italian national team once again took hold off the peloton and in the first half reduced the peloton to a very small group in which Damiano Caruso further cut with an attack with 8 kilometers to go.

Followed by Vincenzo Nibali, Jefferson Cepeda, and later also Louis Meintjes, the group launched small moves towards the finale but only in the last two kilometers were there decisive moves. Caruso seemed to be in control of the situation for most of the climb, and in the final kilometer he accelerated away from his group companions to go for the stage win.

With his favourable position beforehand, Caruso conquered the overall classification aswell with a dominant performance in his home land. Louis Meintjes and Jefferson Alexander Cepeda completed the stage podium.