So the last race of the season in CDiv2 and to the south of the big Protour classic in Lombardy we are in Tuscany as the punchaers get one last chance to impress their team managers.
The course consists of two lengthy circuits both used three times. The first contains a 4km climb with the second headlined by a slightly longer 4.7km climb. There are some nasty steep ramps on the climbs and plenty of oppurtunity for escapes.
Two riders take the oppurtunity on the first lap.
Phil Zajicek and Idan Shapira move out of the pack early. It looks like the riders are keen to show themselves as this break is joined by 13 others by the end of the lap.
Adding to Zajicek and Shapira we have: Kieran Page Alexandre Pichot Marius Bernatonis Mark McNally Andreas Anderegg Rasha Abbasov Pekka Jääskeläinen Eddy Van IJzendoorn Elia Rigotto Miguel Chacon Murilo Fischer Maxime Debusschere Geert Van der Sanden
However having listed all those names things are neutralised on the second of six of todays long climb.
You cannot blame the riders for taking it slightly easy once the catch is made, we know from past experiences that the next break will likely be the break of the day.
The best climbers here are Maher Hasnaoui and Marius Bernatonis are the best climbers in the group that also contains: Maxime Debusschere Rasha Abbasov Herman Fouche Eddy Caballero Pekka Jääskeläinen Dalibor Grželj Javier Joaquin Navarro
and Eddy Van IJzendoorn
It's not a group of the best punchaers and looks the right combination for the bunch as this group is allowed 3 minutes plus. However some teams in the pack are not content to allow this group to romp away as Andrea Masciarelli and Simon Gaywood make a move on the descent of the second climb.
It's that tried and tested formula for CDiv2 hilly classics this season, with so few ending on a hill top, an early move often pays dividends. But equally we have also seen leaving it late can work, we see back in the pack Adecco and Samsung-Mol remain calm.
The gap continues to grow and whats this two more riders move clear of the lethargic pack. It's Robert Retschke and Rodolfo Fernandez.
We still have a whopping 108km left but could this be the decisive moment Benoît Daeninck and Yauhen Sobal also move away.
These two are very decent punchy riders, and now the ever resourceful AMEX team take over the pace really upping things.
We move into the final three circuits with this slightly longer climb and we have the leaders now joined by Gaywood, Masciarelli, Retschke and Fernandez. The danger duo of Sobal and Daeninck are at two minutes but AMEX and P Lasko are chasing them hard and are just at 20 seconds.
Other teams look to put pressure on the two powerhouse chasing squads with Fabio Ciccarese and David Belda moving on the attack.
Ciccerese and Belda blast past Daeninck and Sobal hoping that them being caught will unloose the leash, but AMEX has Ciccerese and Belda marked as they continue to chase.
Belda and Ciccerese have joined the ailing break with some of the weaker riders now dropping back to the pack but Daeninck feels we are near breaking point as he attacks again on the first of these three climbs.
He isn't the only one, he knows that the AMEX and P Lasko squads have only so much firepower.
Alberto Rodriguez Oliver, Fabio Ciccarese, Yauhen Sobal and David Belda are off on the attack too.
They merge with Daeninck and the surviving breakaways to form a lead group of 16 over the top in this the first of three circuits.
This is very dangerous indeed but AMEX are really to the fore along with P Lasko keeping the gap under a minute lead a group of about 20 riders behind.
It has dropped the likes of Ludvig Lundberg, Goran Smelcerovic and Laurent Mangel. But these riders may have the chance to get back on as the lead group is caught by the start finish line. Indeed Mangel is pulled back by Christopher De Souza.
However Daeninck has not quite given up on escaping, this time only Gaywood goes with him.
They get 90 seconds down the road and with AMEX and P Lasko looking around Ciccerese decides to chance his arm once more.
On the penultimate of these long 31km laps a trio form at the front and drive on to over a four minute lead.
It's the classic cat and mouse scenerio although we have had a hell of a race to get there. AMEX as ever are keen to take on chasing ability and they have some willing helpers in P Lasko and Adecco. All three squads have numbers and the firepower to win this.
One of the big punchaers though falls on this circuit it's Ruslan Grychenko, cue groans from the Metinvest team car.
The pack is in full chase mode.
35km to go the leads three have 3.30 on the pack with Grychenko another three minutes back, it's race over for him. The gap meanwhile to the lead three continues to tumble fast, it looks like teams are setting up for some bridging manauvers.
Maxim Burlutsky and Carlos Alberto Ospina attack.
This could be the big moments as the gap is down to two minutes Wang-yip Tang counters past these two.
The lead three make the top of the big climb maintaining over a minutes advantage.
The chase group gets whittled down to 10 riders: Burlutskiy, Ospina, Lobato, Serrano, Herve, Van der Schueren, Rodriguez Oliver, Milan and Mangel
The co-operation in this chase though is not great much of the chasing is left to P Lasko and so the gap remains at 1.20 as we hit 15km to go.
Most of the other riders are eying the chance to bridge alone and Burlutskiy is the first to make a big effort.
Van der Schueren bridges across as they cut the gap down to 50 seconds as the other chasers come across too. Under 10km to go the lead trio keep plugging away, still working for this breakaway win.
The seconds between the three and the ten continue to count down and the trio are in view of the chasers.
But the chase has run out of legs and none of the riders can launch that move that would bridge. The three leaders are able to hold a 40 second gao into the last 3km and the sprint!
Ciccerese has really driven it in the last section perhaps resigning himself to third place with Gaywood and Daeninck the better sprinters.
Indeed Gaywood is a recognised field sprinter who can take wins from large bunch sprints, he feels confident enough to go into full sprinting with 1200m left.
Daeninck cannot match the Australians power and drifts past the fading Ciccerese.
Gaywood feels those climbs in his legs and begins to tie up 500m away from the line.
Daeninck still has a bit more left and senses blood.
Indeed the Frenchman nabs a surprising win outsprinting the sprinter, it will not be quite enough for Ekspla to displace Dyson in the team standings. Both teams have finished the season strongly though.
Ciccerese is tailed off in third, perhaps an effort to ensure P Lasko could not take big points to deny them a top three team place.
Adecco's Tang takes 4th with his teammates back in 12th and 13th this confirms a top ten team place for Adecco. Ospina finishes 5th, his team having worked so hard earlier on. Samsung Mol confirm 5th overall in the teams with Pacheco's decent 6th place ahead of P Lasko's Serrano.
Herve and Van der Schueren finish 8th and 9th, on a day when Het Nieuwsblad were not at their very best. They can celebrate a fine year though winning the team standings.
Burlutskiy ended up 11th after a brave effort to prevent Armavia from finishing bottom of the team standings. He can at least celebrate a decent individual year just missing out on a top 5 overal individual position to Ospina. Ospina's teammate Colby wins those standings.
