Today is the opening stage of this nice mountain-heavy continental race. It’s a hilly stage, but it might be a bit too much for the pure punchers.
The Iselberg is today’s obstacle, having it’s summit 13km from the finish. It’s a tough, 5km long climb with gradients around 7%. After the hill, there’s a nice downhill, where the losers can come back, or where the good downhillers can even make a difference.
It’ll be nice to see how this pans out. My prediction would be a small group getting to the finish line, so that we’d get a reduced sprint. None of the sprinters, probably not even Gatto, would be in that, though.

Favourites

J.Rodriguez(KAT)
V.Nibali(AST)


E.Battaglin(BAR)
C.Evans(BMC)


A.Contador(SAX)
B.Intxausti(MOV)
R.Nocentini(ALM)

The Race
128km –
Welcome on this first, short, stage of 2013’s Giro del Trentino. Will a solo attack from the Iselberg stay away, will it get a sprint-a-deux or will a group stay away? You’ll find out soon.
123km –
The first guys escaped from the peloton. They’re Barta(TNE) & Mucelli(BAR), both reasonable punchers. They already have a minute.
117km -

Colombia’s C.Quintero managed to bridge the gap to the 2 escapees. It looks like this group of 3 might be the breakaway of the day.
102km –
That is indeed the case, those 3 riders are allowed to get space from the peloton, having 4 minutes now.
80km – At 5’15, the gap has probably maxed out. The peloton has it under control, it seems.
52km –
Mucelli manages to win the intermediate sprint comfortably, ahead of Barta and (of course) Quintero. The gap is at 3’30 and therefore under control. Katusha, Astana & Saxo are all chasing.
35km –
With the gap only being around 2 minutes, the first attacks from the peloton start. Rabbotini(VIN), Moreno(MOV), Taaramaë(COF) and most notably Izagirre(EUS) attack!
32km – Mainly Katusha is not liking it, and is trying their best to prevent a big gap. Nevertheless, the group of 4 has 30 seconds now.
27km –
The group has a minute now, and the climb is bound to start within 10 kilometres. The escapees are 1’30 ahead of group Izagirre, and 2’30 of the peloton. Saxo is helping with chasing a lot now.
18km –

The early breakaway has reached the climb, still a minute ahead of Izagirre, and 2’20 of the peloton. Things are looking bad for the peloton, and don’t forget that Barta & Mucelli are actually good punchers!
16km –

Suddenly, a race favourite, Nocentini(ALM), went on his own, and attacks from the peloton, 2500m from the summit. He has a 1’20 gap to bridge to the group of 4.
Izagirre’s group is quickly closing in now as well, they’re 30 seconds away from the escapees.
15km –
Most of the 7 guys(who nearly merged now) try to attack. I’m not entirely sure if it’s for the KoM jersey or for the stage-win.
Nocentini is 45 seconds behind Izagirre, and the peloton is at 1’10 from him.
14km –
Mucelli and Quintero are now within a km from the summit, and they dropped Barta. Izagirre is hunting them down, though, and the other 4 are getting close as well.
Nocentini nearly bridged the gap, but the peloton is close as well.
The gap between the peloton and the leading duo at the front is now 1’25. With a downhill near, this could be close!
13.5km –
A small split is near! 3 Astana riders (including Nibbles), Evans(BMC) & Ulissi(LAM), have got a tiny gap. Rogers was there as well, but waits for Contador. Rodriguez(KAT) manages to close the gap, along with fellow Katusha rider Caruso.
13km –
Mucelli grabs the KoM jersey, just in front of Izagirre, who’s performed a great climb! A bit later, Barta manages to hold on for third, though Nocentini came awfully close.
They’re roughly a minute ahead of Nibali & Rodriguez.
12km –
Barta attacks from the peloton, trying to bridge the gap with the duo in front, who have around 35 secs. Nibali, Purito, Ulissi & Evans managed to reach Nocentini’s group.
This is the current situation, we can imagine that it got confusing:

Leaders: Izagirre & Mucelli
0’35 - Barta
0’45 - Nocentini, Quintero, Moreno, Rabottini, Evans, Nibali, Purito & Ulissi
1’10 - Peloton.

11km –
The peloton, led by Saxo, is getting closer to the favourites group. Meanwhile, Izagirre & Mucelli are a minute ahead of the favourite group. Izagirre looks quite fresh, and Mucelli doesn’t look bad either, despite being in the break.
9km – The favourite group is back in the peloton now. Mucelli & Izagirre are on 1’25!
5km –

Going under the 5km banner, the peloton is nowhere to be seen. Mucelli & Izagirre manage to sustain the gap. The pace in the peloton isn’t that high either, some dropped groups seem to come back.
Izagirre & Mucelli are quite similar in sprinting, it will be interesting to see who has the most energy left.
3500m –
Mucelli attacks! Izagirre can’t follow the wheel and tries to close the gap. The peloton is still more than a minute away, surely this goes between these two.
2000m – Mucelli couldn’t get away from Izagirre, and the two are together for the sprint. Izagirre has the best spot, on Mucelli’s wheel.
1300m –
Mucelli played it smart and took Izagirre’s wheel. Ion Izagirre starts his sprint now!

900m –
Mucelli can’t find energy and has to leave a gap, Izagirre got this!

A km behind, Purito leads the bunch into the last 2km. Modolo , Duque & Gatto managed to get to the front on the downhill and actually stand a chance for third here, though Purito looks really fresh.
Finish -

Izagirre does it! A big win for him! Kudos to nr2. Mucelli as well, who managed to stay ahead of the pack as well, despite riding in front of the breakaway for 120km.


Rougly a minute later, the peloton arrives. Gatto convincingly takes third. Purito went too early, and Modolo & Duque couldn’t find the energy, it seems. Ulissi takes fourth, and Intxausti pips out Nibbles for 5th.
A peloton of 84 got to the finish. Notable GC guys that dropped are:
Anacona(LAM), Firsanov(RVL), Al Mohney(LAM), Llanet(MOV). But in the end, the jury decided to give them the same time, for some reason.

Mucelli & Izagirre split the jerseys nicely. Izagirre takes yellow(just by 2 secs), Mucelli takes green(because of his IS win). Mucelli takes the KoM as well, and Izagirre takes the U25 jersey.
Most Credits should go to the leaders duo of course, but credits have to go to Quintero as well, who managed to hold on for a long time, despite not being a good climber on paper.

Results:

1	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	2h54'53
2	Davide Mucelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	s.t.
3	Oscar Gatto	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	+ 57
4	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
5	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	s.t.
6	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	s.t.
8	Sacha Modolo	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	s.t.
9	Warren Barguil	Team Argos - Shimano	s.t.
10	Leonardo Duque	Colombia	s.t.

GC

1	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	2h54'33
2	Davide Mucelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	+ 2
3	Oscar Gatto	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	+ 1'09
4	Jan Barta	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 1'13
5	Carlos Quintero	Colombia	+ 1'15
6	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	+ 1'17
7	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
9	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	s.t.
10	Sacha Modolo	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	s.t.

Points

1	Davide Mucelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	26	26
2	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	25	25
3	Oscar Gatto	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	16	16
4	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	14	14
5	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	12	12
6	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	10	10
7	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	9	9
8	Sacha Modolo	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	8	8
9	Warren Barguil	Team Argos - Shimano	7	7
10	Leonardo Duque	Colombia	6	6

KoM

1	Davide Mucelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	10	10
2	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	8	8
3	Jan Barta	Team NetApp - Endura	6	6
4	Rinaldo Nocentini	AG2R La Mondiale	4	4
5	Rein Taaramäe	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	2	2

U25: Izagirre
Team: Bardiani

Atlantius wrote:
Gora Ion!

sutty68 wrote:
Wow, the team must have had something good for breakfast in Turkey

Jesleyh wrote:
2 Top 10s. Okay
Was it hilly or mountainous?
@Selwink Actually, it was the same layout as my MsR preview and basically my default preview

Jesleyh wrote:
Anyway, I did the TTT.
I learnt that reporting TTTs isn't easy, but I've found a decent way to report it, I think.