Mark Christian (Aqua Blue) and Jake Kelly (One-Pro Cycling) take part in the 2018 Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (UCI 2.1) stage race later this week.

Held in memory of two of the country’s finest riders, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, the event takes place in the Emilia-Romagna region between Thursday and Sunday.

Peter Kennaugh (BORA), who was training with the pair last Friday, is the only British rider to have won the event in 2014, when riding for Team Sky. It first took place in 1984.

Pete was first on general classification, second on points and seventh in the mountains, Sky having won the opening team time trial. He also won the second road stage.

The 28-year-old hopes to be back to racing for his new team soon. He has had a few weeks out of out of serious action with an iron deficiency.

His former Sky team-mates, Onchan resident Ben Swift (now UAE) and Castletown-based Ian Stannard, finished 44th and 127th respectively in Saturday’s longest single classic, the Milan San Remo.

Peel’s Sam Brand was 131st in his first classic race. He is only the third Manxman to complete the 290km event behind Mark Cavendish (who won in 2009) and Kennaugh (who was 49th in 2016, after crashing), on that day Swifty finished runner-up to Arnaud Démare.