The youngsters representing the future of Italian cycling put on a great show at the 63rd Piva Junior Day, staged on Sunday 17 July at Col San Martino. The historic race organised by AC Col San Martino in fact exalted the U17 category in the morning and the juniors in the afternoon. In the first race it was the Italian champion in the Madison on track, Davide Stella (Gottardo Giochi Aude Kitchen Caneva), who raised his arms to the sky, after a thrilling tricolour duel with Filippo Cettolin (VC San Vendemiano), new Italian champion of the category after his victory in Darfo Boario Terme a few days ago. In the afternoon, however, the scene was all for Matteo Scalco (Borgo Molino Vigna Fiorita), who took off on Combai with just under 30 km to go and was never seen again by his rivals until the finish.

The U17′ race, which was valid as the 16th GP Pro Loco, flew by at an average speed of 40.3 km/h, to the sound of sprints and counter-sprints that made it a very tight race from the first of the 71.4 km to the last. The race was inflamed on the fourth of the six laps of the Guia circuit, when the Italian champion Filippo Cettolin (VC San Vendemiano), Giacomo Rosato, Luca Vaccher (Borgo Molino Rinascita Ormelle), Davide Stella (Gottardo Giochi Aude Kitchen Caneva), Riccardo Da Rios (Industrial Forniture Moro-Trecieffe) and Jacopo Sasso (V.C. Bassano) were able to go away on the climb. The advantage of the six, which became five after Da Rios’s difficulties, they approached the last lap with 1’30” on the group and the knowledge that they would be the ones to play for the stage. Despite attempts on the climbs by Cettolin and Sasso, no one was able to skim the front group further, which thus came to play for the victory in a narrow sprint. The winner was Stella, in his seventh win of the season, who was able to make the most of his pistard skills and jump Cettolin in the last 100 metres.

“It is really a great emotion to win here,” said the Friulian Stella. “In the last kilometres we controlled each other a lot, I was keeping a special eye on the Italian champion Cettolin, who I knew was in great shape. Arriving in the sprint was fine with me, I have a good fast sprint and I knew I could win. I came from the track, but the short climbs like the one at Guia I could overcome well. After the disappointment of the Italian Championships, I took a good revenge”.

The junior race, on the other hand, which was valid as the 2nd GP Andreola and provincial championship, was animated by the breakaway of Sergio Giaffreda (Autozai-Petrucci-Contri), Simone Sponda (Assali Stefen Makro), Giovanni Cuccarolo (Borgo Molino Vigna Fiorita) and Leonardo Volpato (UC Giorgione Ven-Cam), who sprinted on the third passage towards Guia and came to have up to 1’30” on the group. However, their action came to an end on the first of the two passages of the climb towards Combai, about 30 km from the finish, when the group reacted violently and Matteo Scalco‘s decisive attack was born. The rider from Thiene in Vicenza immediately managed to create an important gap on his opponents, and within a few kilometres he gained about a minute on the first pursuers, and maintained it until the arrival. Behind him a group of five arrived to play for the narrow sprint, with Marco Martini (Autozai-Petrucci-Contri) able to anticipate Tommaso Cafueri (Tiepolo Udine) and take the place of honour.

“This season is giving me a lot of satisfaction,” admitted Scalco, who had already won the Lugo time trial this year. “I got a win and a lot of placings, I am always there to play for it, at the Italian Championship I finished 4th, just a step away from the podium. Today I knew I had to try to make a selection on the climb and when I saw that no one was following me I pulled straight ahead. The heat? It doesn’t condition me, in fact I’m even going faster. I’m very happy.”

“The hope is to soon see some of these youngsters also fighting at the Trofeo Piva,” said AC Col San Martino President Mario De Rosso. “With the Piva Junior Day they have the chance to begin to become familiar with these roads and I am convinced that they had fun today, despite the fact that the heat made the races even tougher. As always, I would like to thank the many volunteers who offer their time for the success of the event, the institutions, and the sponsors, who are now part of the big AC Col San Martino family“.

ORDER OF ARRIVAL U17

1) Davide Stella (Gottardo Giochi Aude Kitchen Caneva) in 1h46’17”
2) Filippo Cettolin (VC San Vendemiano) s.t.
3) Luca Vaccher (Borgo Molino Rinascita Ormelle) s.t.
4) Jacopo Sasso (V.C. Bassano 1892) s.t.
5) Giacomo Rosato (Borgo Molino Rinascita Ormelle) +05”
6) Nicola Battain (Borgo Molino Rinascita Ormelle) +24”
7) Nicolò Berton (Industrial Forniture Moro-Trecieffe) +1’19”
8) Samuele Massolin (Industrial Forniture Moro-Trecieffe) +1’53”
9) Enrico Prevedello (C.S. Libertas Scorzè) s.t.
10) Riccardo Fabbro (Industrial Forniture Moro-Trecieffe) s.t.

ORDER OF ARRIVAL JUNIORS

1) Matteo Scalco (Borgo Molino Vigna Fiorita) in 2h36’42”
2) Marco Martini (Autozai-Petrucci-Contri) +1’20”
3) Tommaso Cafueri (Tiepolo Udine) s.t.
4) Matteo Cettolin (Borgo Molino Vigna Fiorita) s.t.
5) Alessandro Da Ros (S.C. Fontanafredda) s.t.
6) Gabriel Musizza (Tiepolo Udine) +1’24”
7) Davide Basso (Industrial Forniture Moro Trecieffe) +1’30”
8) Riccardo Biondani (Autozai-Petrucci-Contri) s.t.
9) Simone Vieceli (Grbike) s.t.
10) Gabriele Simonetto (UC Giorgione Ven-Cam) +1’35”