Sacha Modolo con­firmed yet again he’s arrived at the elite level with an impres­sive second-place sprint in Sunday’s Olympic test-ever race held on the same cir­cuit rac­ers will face next sum­mer in the Olympic Games.

Only sprinter super-star Mark Cavendish could keep Modolo off the high­est spot on the podium.

“I am very happy with this result against a world-class rider like Cavendish,” Modolo said. “The entire squad worked to help me set up the sprint. I was in per­fect posi­tion on the wheel of Cavendish. It was a big fight to get on the wheel, but I am opti­mistic after a big result like this against a rider with the class of Cavendish.”

Modolo, 24, has been on a tear of late, win­ning five races since July, includ­ing two stages at the Tour of Denmark ear­lier this month, as well as post­ing seven other top-5 plac­ings in the sprints.

The result bodes well for Modolo, who was among five Italian rid­ers selected to par­tic­i­pate in the test event in London, held on the same cir­cuit Olympic ath­letes will be rac­ing on next summer.

The 140km race started and fin­ished in down­town London on The Mall. An early break­away pulled clear, only to be reeled in by the Great Britain team. Other rid­ers tried late-race attacks, but the sprint­ers con­trolled the pace until the final.

The impres­sive sec­ond place will put Modolo in good stand­ing with Italian coach Paolo Bettini and could lead to a berth in next year’s Olympic Games in London as well as a spot on the world cham­pi­onship squad next month in Copenhagen.

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