Team Dimension Data Continental’s Stefan de Bod claimed his second win in Europe this season when he won the GP Palio del Recioto in Negrar, Italy, yesterday.
The young rider completed the U23 race, which covered a distance of 151km, in a time of 3:43:04.
De Bod, who was crowned this year’s Bestmed Tour of Good Hope champion last month, won the race after attacking on the final climb.
Team Dimension Data Continental’s Stefan de Bod won the GP Palio del Recioto in Negrar, Italy, yesterday. Photo: Andrew Peat
The team was looking at De Bod and Matteo Sobrero, who took third place at yesterday’s Giro del Belvedere, to lead the charge.
Kent Main, Hafetab Weldu and El Mehdi Chokri worked together to look after the two on their way to the final climb.
“It’s a really big victory for me, probably one of the biggest in my career so far,” De Bod told In the Bunch.
“The race was really hard. During the first part I just had to save the legs and stay safe. The last 30km was about being in the right position and being able to attack to go to the finish.”
De Bod added that he was attacked about 26km from the finish. First, he was in a group of five riders and they did not want to work with him, so he had to attack them further up in the climb.
“Then I just rode away solo. There was one rider following me with a 10 second gap, but he couldn’t close it, so I kept the gap until the finish and it worked out quite well.”
South Africa’s De Bod said his teammates supported him well and he was happy to have done his part in the team and to have taken his second win of the European season.
Sobrero ultimately crossed the finish line in fifth place.
