Great solo and team performances, Bike 4 Fun and running on the highlight day of Liberation: triumph for the Spaniard Blasi (UAE) and the Abruzzese Masciarelli (MBH Bank)

Today at the Baths of Caracalla the highlight day of the 78th Gran Premio della Liberazione took place, that of April 25th. This morning the first act: at 9 am, from Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 104 cyclists representing 16 teams tackled the 16 laps of the challenging 6-kilometer circuit for the COATI LIBERAZIONE WOMEN, the fourth women's stage of the Coppa Italia delle Regioni. Succeeding Olympic champion Chiara Consonni, last year's winner, and thus wearing the pink jersey branded Coati at the top of the podium, was the Spaniard Paula Blasi, capable of a high-level technical performance that allowed UAE Adq to repeat their dominance in the race.

The 22-year-old Catalan broke away from the group together with Silvia Milesi from Bepink after about thirty kilometers, then went solo 15 km from the finish, heading for a triumph that followed her sixth place last Sunday in Chambery as a domestique for Erica Magnaldi. Meanwhile, the eighteen-year-old Milesi held on alone for a very prestigious second place, while behind her the sprint raged, with Sofia Bertizzolo third and Eilidh Shaw fourth: UAE with two athletes on the podium and three in the top 5. Fifth, the tireless Lithuanian Rasa Leleivyte from Aromitalia Vaiano.

After a string of successes in "minor" Spanish races in 2024, Paula Blasi this year joined the Development team of the Emirati squad: having been called up several times to the first team, victories like the Liberazione can boost her ambitions. Awarded by Maria Spena, from the Board of Sport e Salute, by Roberto Pella, president of the Professional Cycling League, by the president of the Lazio Committee of the Federciclismo Maurizio Brilli, and by Maria Sofia Lazzaretti, wife of Mario Carbutti, creator of the women's Liberazione, the winner commented on her achievement as follows: “We knew we were the strongest and we knew it would be a very tough race, so we let other teams control the situation in the early stages, then launched a series of attacks. I made the first move and it was immediately the right one, together with the young Italian athlete with whom there was excellent understanding. After that, I went solo, because I didn't want to risk a one-on-one. The race plan? Sofia Bertizzolo or Sophie Van Rooijen in case of a sprint, Eilidh Shaw or myself for breakaways. I am very happy to have achieved such an important result in my first year in a professional structure, now I just want to keep working hard to improve and prepare for the Tour de l'Avenir and the World Championships.”

So finally the excellent Silvia Milesi: “I had trained very well in recent weeks, but this 2nd place is really unexpected and I am thrilled! I managed to get into a breakaway with three UAE athletes and then follow Paula when she attacked, I enjoyed every moment in a spectacular setting and with great support from the fans.” Adding to her personal satisfaction, in the day's awards for the Coppa Italia delle Regioni, the rider from Walter Zini's team also won the blue jersey (best Italian), green (GPM), and magenta (best young rider) while the white jersey for combativity went to Beatrice Rossato from Isolmant Premac Vittoria.

The race was started by Hon. Roberto Pella, vice president of ANCI and president of the Professional Cycling League. “Undoubtedly it is a wonderful race that takes place in a world-class historical setting. It is a top-level race with the participation of athletes from many nations, a testament to the great tradition of cycling in sport and culture. Thanks to the organizer Terenzi and regional president Brilli for putting together an event of this level. As a League, we stand by their side to make an important contribution to the Coppa Italia delle Regioni, especially because we equalize the prize money for women and men: this is a great value both from a technical point of view and above all from the point of view of gender equality, and that is why we have involved not only the Ministries of Sport, Tourism, and Economy but also that of Equal Opportunities,” said Pella.

Also following the race live was Marta Bastianelli, two-time winner of the Liberazione (2016 and 2017), now technical collaborator of the women's national cycling team. “We are here to support and observe the girls, which we always do when we can. I thank the organizer, Terenzi, for giving women the opportunity to race the Liberazione again this year. The course is very beautiful and also demanding: from experience, I know that it is a race that is almost always decided in the last laps. However, I am convinced that we can think big for the future to make this race something even more important,” said Bastianelli.

As a very pleasant interlude, at lunchtime, over 300 citizens participated in the Bike 4 Fun - pedalata del dono, the open-to-all bike ride that crossed the heart of the Capital, organized in collaboration with ANED Sport and AIDO to raise awareness about organ donation.

At 2 pm, from Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 160 Under 23s representing 33 teams from all over the world, competed in the category's "youth world championship": triumphing on the straight of Viale delle Terme di Caracalla was the son and grandson of champions Lorenzo Masciarelli, of MBH Bank Ballan Csb, who wins the Liberazione exactly fifty years after his grandfather Palmiro!

After about ten kilometers, a quartet broke away: the Dane Alexander Hansen (Airtox Carl Ras), the Israeli Jonatan Anudraham (X-Team Hamaslul), Andrea Alfio Bruno (Hopplà), and indeed Lorenzo Masciarelli (MBH Bank Ballan); another ten kilometers and it became a sextet, with the addition of Stefano Leali (Sissio Team) and the Hungarian Zsombor Takacs, also representing MBH. When their advantage exceeded two and a half minutes, the breakaway's chances became more and more concrete. And they became almost a certainty when, in the second half of the race, another "ex Colpack" man, Manuel Oioli, perfectly stopped the counterattack of Alessandro Cattani (Technipes #InEmiliaRomagna) and Tommaso Bessega (Biesse Carrera) and subsequently a brave attempt by Tommaso Tessiore (Monaco) faded quickly, as did a further sortie by Federico Biagini (VF Bardiani Csf Faizanè) and the German Leon Arenz (Rembe Rad-Net).

Despite the attempts of UAE Gen Z and VF Bardiani Csf Faizanè to organize a chase at the head of the peloton, it became clear that the finishing order would result from individual or at most paired attacks and counterattacks. With 20 km to go, the first surge by Lorenzo Masciarelli was soon neutralized but had the effect of dropping Anudraham and teammate Takacs, who had sacrificed himself to pull. However, the Hungarian confirmed the enormous team spirit of the Bevilacqua, Valoti, and Dileo family team, sticking to the wheel of the other German Bruno Kessler, who in the meantime had shot out from the group to reform a sextet at the front.

At -15 km, Filippo Turconi from Bardiani and Riccardo Lorello from Hopplà also launched a counterattack, but they couldn't make the junction. Instead, Masciarelli's decisive acceleration at -8 km succeeded: he passed solo at the bell for the last lap, behind him the chasers strung out and arrived "one by one" while the Abruzzese athlete raised his arms to the sky of the capital in the jubilation of the crowd. Second was Bruno Kessler (Rembe Rad-Net), third the Sicilian Andrea Alfio Bruno, fourth Alexander Hansen, fifth the exhausted Takacs who in the finale was left behind together with Stefano Leali, sixth. A minute and a half behind the winner, Riccardo Lorello was seventh and Filippo Turconi eighth. Gabriele Bessega (Biesse Carrera) won the group sprint ahead of Riccardo Perani (Trevigiani Energiapura Marchiol) who closed the top 10, and so on for the others.
 Awarding the prizes were the Director General of the Ministry of Education and Merit Gianna Barbieri, FCI Lazio President Maurizio Brilli, GP Liberazione patron Claudio Terenzi, and Clemente Cavaliere, event sponsor with his company. A multidisciplinary talent, with various successes in cyclocross at the youth level, twenty-one-year-old Lorenzo Masciarelli (whose younger brother Stefano was also racing, with Aran Cucine) did not hide his strong emotion on stage: «I had been chasing this victory for a very long time and I am also happy for the team that achieved two wins in one day, since a few hours ago Matteo Fiorin won the Coppa Caduti Nervianesi near Milan. Today I started thinking about having as much fun as possible, then I got into the break of the day because I knew it was a nervous course. When I saw the group starting to split, I made an agreement with Zsombor and we managed it well, because as soon as they got a bit closer from behind, we increased the pace. Finally, I started to believe more and more and so I attacked, finding the right pedal stroke to finish solo. And there is another reason why this result is so important to me: last August a dear friend of mine passed away and I tried at all costs to get this win to dedicate it to him.»

 As a corollary to the entire three days of Lazio Bike Days, which began the day before yesterday with the Italian team time trial championships for Allievi and Allieve and continued yesterday and today with the GP Liberazione events, over 250 runners ran on the same course as the Liberazione in the 10 km running race, both competitive and non-competitive, organized by Terenzi Sport Eventi in collaboration with the Appia Run. Fabrizio Vannoli won among the men, with Roberto Testero and Marcello Prestianni completing the podium; French victory among the women with Severine Huille ahead of Federica Angeletti and Angela Turchetta.

The event is sponsored by the Ministry for Sport and Youth, CONI Lazio, American Chamber of Commerce, and supported by the Lazio Region, the Department of Sport, Major Events, Tourism and Fashion of Rome Capital, Sport e Salute, Institute for Sports and Cultural Credit.

Official partners: Coati, DPiù, Co.Re.Ma. 3, Cavaliere Bici, SR Arredamenti.

Media Partner: Corriere dello Sport.

 

Photo credits: Simone Lombi