Unstoppable! Marc Hirschi wins his 5th consecutive race at Memorial Marco Pantani

Marc Hirschi has been racing a minor calendar this year but he is on his very best level and is currently unstoppable! The Swiss rider took his fifth consecutive win this afternoon, winning the sprint at the Memorial Marco Pantani.

The Italian race featured a breakaway of 4 riders in Simon Carr, Iván Romeo, Valentin Ferron and Filippo Turconi. The race had a hilly circuit with five laps and five ascents of a relatively tough ascent that favoured aggressive racing. The very hard pace saw the final survivors of the group get caught with still 79 kilometers to go, and attacks quickly began.

Some of the main favourites including Diego Ulissi and Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda were very active but ultimately the gradients were not too hard and it became a very tactical race. With 68 kilometers to go Mattéo Vercher, Marco Brenner and Filippo Baroncini attacked and created a gap. Vercher was dropped soon after and the duo kept carving out a gap over the peloton that split completely over the climbs.

A strong group moved off the front in the final climb but there wasn't enough collaboration to close down the gap, and eventually the peloton regrouped... Baroncini and Brenner looked to go for the win but a late push in the peloton saw the gap come down and eventually the catch was made already inside the final kilometer. A reduced bunch sprint came to be and although a few fast men survived, UAE Team Emirates' Marc Hirschi sprinted to the win - his fifth consecutive; following Clásica San Sebastián, Bretagne Classic, GP Industria & Artigianato and Coppa Sabatini. Lorenzo Milesi and Vincenzo Albanese completed the podium.