Welcome to the first stage of the Coppi e Bartali, one of the premier stage races of the D2 calendar. The course is 85km in total, with 9 laps. Each lap contains the same 1.5km long climb that averages around 4%, maxing out at close to 6%. It is unlikely to cause a huge selection but may tire some of the sprinters out.
Speaking of sprinters, the favourites for today include Bandiera, Fabbri and Sobrino, though a number of other names are mentioned. Eurovision in particular have brought a number of riders who could potentially perform well today with Sobrino being only one of them.
The attacks, as always in D2, start early. First up are Costa and Fabbro, who attack side by side.
These two are joined by six more riders fairly quickly: Kostjuk De Souza Higgerson Spasic Gallagher Hutchings
This gives us a lead group of eight with 64km left to ride. The peleton seems happy enough and for once the first riders to break away are not caught by those behind them. Their gap stands at 2’45”.
The early work in the peleton is shared between Het Nieuswblad and Cativen, both of whom have aspirations for the overall. Eurovision are close to the front, however, and are clearly trying to shelter their top sprinters.
With 61km to go, shortly after the entire break has come together, another attack launches. This time it is Bespalov, one of the division’s top rouleurs. There are already a lot of time trialists out front and if Bespalov were added to their army the group will be even more dangerous.
The peleton now increases its pace fearing Bespalov. This results in the gap to the break coming down under 2 minutes. Bespalov is still going faster than the chase, but his gap is going out slowly.
At the end of the fourth lap, with about 45km remaining, Bespalov catches the break of the day. The gap has plummeted to only 1’20”. Capelle and Kusters are doing a lot of the work in the peleton, with Rincon also ever-present.
At the end of the fourth lap there are two more riders seeking to bridge across this steadily decreasing gap. This time it is Suray and Burlutsky who try to come forward and seek to join the day’s aggressors.
The Canadian champion Dionne decides to launch an attack and show off his tremendous jersey. On the hill he manages to bridge up but with 12 riders now up front there is also no organisation amongst the break. The gap has also come down to 51” with 40km still to ride. The peleton seems to have this well under control.
Another rider tries their luck with an attack and this time it is Arekejev. He gets up without much trouble, because now the gap is down to 35”.
Up the 6th climb the mountain jersey is on offer. There are 6 points for the person who goes over first. The break are still away so they get to fight it out. Hutchings takes it over Higgerson and Bespalov. That is a great result for Ekspla, who get a few unexpected points out of today regardless of what happens from now on.
Over the top of the climb, Arekejev doesn’t stop his acceleration and sets off alone in front of the break.
He pulls out a strong gap and the situation is this as we start the 7th lap out of 9:
35”
27”
1’02”
Arekejev
--->
11 Chasers
--->
Peleton
Pivovarna, Eurovision and Adecco are setting the pace on the front of the peleton, hoping to keep this all together for a sprint. In the break Fabbro does a huge amount of work on the front of the break and manages to pull Arekejev back singlehandedly with only 14km remaining. He is clearly trying to set something up for his teammate Burlutsky, who might like his chance in a small group sprint. Amazingly the gap back to the peleton is still hovering around the 45” mark and no one has pulled this back.
The next two riders to try their luck with an attack out of the break are two of the big danger men here – Bespalov and Hutchings. Both are great time trialists and if they work together they could very well hold the peleton off.
But wait! Hutchings has dropped Bespalov and sets off alone with 12km remaining! Can he hold everyone else off?
The rest of the break is swallowed up except for these two. But suddenly, some drama in the peleton as several riders hit the tarmac! They are: Clancy Thomel Quemeneur Petrov Zajicek Shapira
Several riders are also delayed and dropped off the back of the bunch, and they are: Kasa Sobrino Agudelo
Several time trialists here which could have a bearing on tomorrow’s result, but more interesting is the presence of a few sprinters including one of the big favourites at the start of the day in Sobrino. Further, Zajicek was an outsider for a strong GC position, so American Express’ team plan will now rest entirely on the shoulders of Anthony Colby. Similarly, Petrov was leading his team on paper and so Gazprom will have to think of a plan B pretty soon.
At the start of the final lap, with about 9km remaining, the situation is as follows:
13”
29”
42”
Hutchings
--->
Bespalov
--->
Peleton
Bespalov is caught near the peak of the final climb, with about 5km remaining, and once again Arekejev puts in a dig!
Arekejev goes past Hutchings, but the pace on the front is being set very high by Strgar, who is clearly having a great day. So with 3.7km remaining to the finish line, Strgar has shut down Arekejev completely and the entire peleton is together at the front of the race.
Strgar’s hard work comes at a pprice, however, and with 3km remaining he has to peel off the front leaving only Podgornik to lead out Fabbri. On the left hand side of the road the line is as follows: Podgornik Fabbri Pichot Gonzalez Huff Urtasun
On the right the line is: Tang Dietziker Bandiera Ansons
Clearly Adecco have organised themselves brilliantly and haven’t burnt out their domestiques too early.
Huff swings from the left train to the right, taking Urtasun with him. He starts to fight for position with Ansons, who is getting a good ride on Bandiera’s wheel. Meanwhile Suray moves up onto Gonzalez’s wheel to take Huff’s former position. There are 2100 metres to the line.
Podgornik can’t hold this pace for long and with 1700 metres left he comes off the front. This disrupts the Adecco train and forces Tang and Ansons to drop back a bit. Huff has to try to come around as well, and suddenly there is a spot open on Bandiera’s wheel.
Under the 1km to go banner Pichot launches up the inside and has clearly conserved his energy today. Dietziker is looking strong, however, and starts to come equal to Fabbri, who is struggling with no more lead-out men. Gonzalez and Suray are both a bit boxed in.
With 600 metres to the line, Pichot is still powering through. Gonzalez has held his wheel well and comes into second place. Bandiera has launched his sprint, but is it too late? Ansons also pulls up from behind, and has a huge amount of speed!
Ansons finds a gap and takes it, moving up past Gonzalez and into second. Pichot hasn’t faltered though! And what’s this?! Urtasun has come out of nowhere to fight for a podium place!
But neither of these two could compete with Pichot today! He takes a comfortable sprint victory and another stage win as well as the leader’s jersey for his Alstom – Bic team, who are looking more and more certain for a top 3 finish in the overall standings.
Ansons holds on for second ahead of the fast-finishing Urtasun. Gonzalez gets a surprise 4th and Suray manages 5th. Bandiera will be disappointed with his 6th and Fabbri even more disappointed with 7th.Dietziker, Bandiera’s last lead-out man, gets 8th place ahead of Rincon and Tang, making it three Adecco men in the top 10.
