Pozzato leads Italian sweep of Milan-San Remo

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

SAN REMO, Italy (AFP) — Quick step rider Filippo Pozzato lead an Italian podium sweep at the Milan-San Remo cycling race, the opening one-day classic of the season.

Pozzato finished several metres ahead of last year's winner Alessandro Petacchi with Luca Paolini finishing third after 294km of racing ahead of Pozzato's teammate, Belgian world champion Tom Boonen.

The 24-year-old Pozzato took control at the Poggio, the final climb of the race, and made the push 350 metres from the line.

A winner of a stage in the 2004 Tour de France, Pozzato also won the Tirreno-Adriatico race the same year and the HEW-Cyclassics in Hamburg in 2005.

This year's race was one of the fastest in its 97-year history at more than 45km/h, with a breakaway group of eight...