Kristian Sbaragli took his first professional win by easily outsprinting the field on the opening stage of the eight-day Tour of Korea on Sunday, June 9, taking MTN-Qhubeka‘s second leader jersey in a stage race.
The young Italian won the sprint of an eight-man group by a cycle length to take the sixth win of the African team’s first Professional Continental season. After six top-ten placings this season, the Italian finally made it to the top step of the podium.
His South African team-mate Martin Wesemann made a large contribution to the win, having been away for some 100 km both in a group and solo, and once caught, setting up Sbaragli for the sprint.
The Italian won the sprint convincingly after 180.8km between Cheonan and Muju ahead of his countryman Albert Cecchin (Team Nippo) and Estonian Mart Ojavee (Champion System).
“What a great start, the team has been so motivated to get results this year”, said team principal Douglas Ryder.
“Martin did an incredible job, showing how he has developed the last 18 months, and for Kris to get his first race win of the year after coming so close so many times is just fantastic for him. We will see many more victories from him now.”
The 23-year-old Sbaragli will now wear the yellow leader’s jersey on the 142km second stage from Muju to Gumi on Monday. Aside from having the overall lead, the Italian also leads the sprint ranking.
In a frenetic start with many escape attempts, MTN-Qhubeka’s Johann van Zyl and Songezo Jim tried to get into various break groups, before Martin Wesemann initiated the day’s escape with around 100km to go.
Wesemann, Japanese rider Shinichi Fukushima (Team Nippo), Dutchman Thomas Rabou (OCBC Singapore), China’s Yingchuan Gu (MAX) and New Zealander Jason Christie (OCBC Singapore) rode ahead of a large chase group around Sbaragli for about 80km.
In an exciting finale, Wesemann attacked on the last climb and tried to save his ever-shrinking gap with a solo ride on the last 20km. Although he was caught shortly before the finish, the win still went to his team.
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