Inaugural Colorado Classic victory for Manuel Senni
(Cyclingnews.com)

Having built his overall race lead on stages two and three of the Colorado Classic, Manuel Senni successfully defending his blue jersey on the final day of racing in Denver to secure the win. The Italian was looked after across the 120km by his BMC Racing team and managed to sprint to tenth place to ensure his 15-second win over Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis). The win is the first of the 25-year-old`s career with Senni praising his teammates for letting him enjoy the personal success. `It`s an amazing feeling! I`m very happy. The team did an unbelievable job for me. I have to say thank you one thousand times to my teammates,` Senni said. `The team rode for me all day and I was still in the front in the last kilometer to stay out of trouble and take no risk, so I could even do the sprint. I finished tenth, which was enough to keep the jersey. It was perfect.` Senni`s second of the season saw the Italian head stateside for the Tour of Utah, where he helped teammate Brent Bookwalter to fifth place and a stage win, and the inaugural Colorado Classic. The high altitude races also featured smaller team than the majority of European races which played into Senni`s hand as he explained.ADVERTISEMENT `I think the smaller teams made it easier to attack. It`s harder for the teams to organise themselves immediately and start the chase. Like yesterday with the climbs, the group was really small so I could attack and the teams behind didn`t have the number of riders to respond. It was a very nice race in general. There are always a lot of people on the road at the American races. I really like to come here to race.` Senni`s North American adventure continues next month at the Canadian one-day WorldTour races Quebec and Montreal where BMC will be backing in Greg Van Avermaet to repeat his success from last year. `Racing in Utah and Colorado at altitude is really good for the shape and condition and my win today definitely gives me more confidence for the rest ...