Kump takes crit race in Finale Emilia

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At only 21 years of age, Slovenian Marko Kump (Adria Mobil) scored the first big victory of his career when he out-sprinted his rivals in a fast finish gallop in Finale Emilia to win the fourth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in front of Simone Ponzi (Lampre – Farnese) and Claudio Corioni (De Rosa – Stac Plastic).

Kump was fastest at the line after six laps through the small town of Finale Emilia and some tough criterium-like racing which saw the bunch split into several groups in the last kilometres. The young Slovenian already won this year - the 1.2 event Trofeo Zssdi in Italy  - but this victory will be important in his career without a doubt.

With one day left in the Italian stage race, Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas-Doimo) remained the overall leader, while second-placed Riccardo Riccò (Ceramica Flaminia) lost ground on GC today due to a split in the final lap of the circuit.

The stage was dominated by a two-man breakaway including the 2005 U23 World Champ Dmytro Grabovskyy (ISD Neri), whose late solo efforts were nevertheless in vain against a fast-moving peloton.

The last stage of this year's Coppi e Bartali stage race saw 100 riders take the start line after a massive elimination of some 30 participants at yesterday's stage finish for arriving outside the time limit.

An early breakaway duo of Grabovskyy and Edwin Andres Carvajal (Miche) went up the road at kilometre 11, and kept their lead until Finale Emilia with a maximum advantage of eight minutes mid-race.

Because of a small change in the route of the day, the organisers cut the final circuit in Finale Emilia down from eight to six laps. When the breakaway riders entered the loop, they still rode well together. But with the peloton approaching fast - only 2'25" behind them as they passed the finish line for the first time - powerhouse Grabovskyy decided to make a move.

At the beginning of second lap, the Ukrainian had Carvajal distanced at 23 seconds and still held a 2'25" lead over the chasing peloton. The young Colombian neo-pro was quickly drawn back into the bunch.

Grabovskyy continued his solo ride but consistently lost ground to the chasing peloton, working towards a bunch sprint. With three laps (25 kilometres) to go, his advantage had shrunk to 1'51", and the bunch finally took control again over the race with two laps to go.

During the penultimate lap, some very fast racing (48.5 km/h) split the bunch into two groups, and second-placed Riccò did not make the cut - contrary to race leader Santaromita. As the riders hit the finish line for the penultimate time, the second group was already 24 seconds adrift.