Modolo roars to vic­tory, lead at Padania

There’s no stop­ping Sacha Modolo, who roared to vic­tory Tuesday and into the leader’s jer­sey in the open­ing stage at the Giro di Padania in Italy.

Hot off win­ning three races in the past two weeks, with vic­tory at the Coppa Agostoni and two stages at the Settimana Lombarda, Modolo did it again with another impres­sive victory.

Modolo kicked to vic­tory ahead of Elia Viviani, with Colnago-CSF Inox team­mate Manuel Belletti cross­ing the line third.

“I can­not help but con­grat­u­late the entire team,” said sport direc­tor Roberto Reverberi. “We worked with Liquigas to chase down the two break­away rid­ers. Then the entire team col­lab­o­rated to assure the suc­cess of the sprint. It was a per­fect finale, with Modolo and Belletti just fly­ing. Sacha dom­i­nated the sprint.”

The vic­tory is Modolo’s ninth on the 2011 sea­son and all have come since July when he returned to rac­ing after a break fol­low­ing the Giro d’Italia.

The hot streak bodes well for his chances to head­line the Italian squad at the upcom­ing world cham­pi­onships in Copenhagen on September 25.