Stage 2 to Sant'Orsola Terme may not have the hardest climb in the race, but the combination of climbs later on the stage could make it the toughest day of racing.
The main favourites are Rein Taaramae, Jose Alarcon, Domenico Pozzovivvo, David Abal, Jaroslav Popovych, Robert Kiserlovski and race leader Timofey Kritskiy. But they aren't the only strong climbers here, and there is no guarantee that one of the aforementioned riders will win it.
A breakaway established itself quite early in the stage: Gian Piero Signorini Klaas Sys Enrique Salgueiro Vassilis Adamou
Others tried to follow them away: Zonneveld, Gelabert, Schelling, Mayo, Kochetkov, and Ludvigsson included. But none could make any sort of gap.
So the break of 4 went clear. The most interesting here is Italian pure climber Signorini, but it was the other 3 who gave us a very tight intermediate sprint battle.
Sys just beating Salgueiro and Adamou.
The long category 2 Palu del Fersina is the part of the stage where the action really should start, and the breakaway are only able to arrive there with a lead of 3 minutes after strong work all day by Bouygues Telecom and Metinvest-Emirates.
Already some of the weaker climbers have been dropped - the sprinters wondering why their manager was so cruel as to bring them here - aswell as a suprisingly bad Juan Mora.
Trading relays at the front of the peloton are Sheydyk, Popkov and Karnulin from Metinvest, and Solis, Camier and Levarlet from Bouygues.
And once the climbing starts - and particularly when Solis relays - more damage is done to the peloton. Fredrik Kessiakoff is a surprise rider to be amongst the strugglers.
Inevitably, we get attacks. Zsolt Der starts us off, and is joined by Mikayil Krasnoperov, Robert Vrecer and Igor Anton. None of the team leaders showing their hand just yet.
Up front in the breakaway, Signorini has accelerated. Sys immediately drops, but Salgueiro and Adamou are fighting to stay with the Meiji rider.
And Vespa are in the thick of the moves out of the peloton as both Dario Cataldo and Domenico Pozzovivvo attack! Jose Alarcon is wise to these Italian team tactics, and follows.
But until Popovych or Taaramae make a move, it is going to be hard for them to hold onto any gap that their initial attack creates.
Up front, and Signorini has reached the summit first. Salgueiro has battled back to him for 2nd, with Adamou also in sight still.
Pozzovivvo and Alarcon are keen to get away and attack again, this time to be followed by Stijn Devolder, Gianpaolo Caruso, Mauricio Ardila and Remi di Gregorio.
It is Caruso who takes 4th at the summit - the gap to Signorini, Salguerio and Adamou (now all together again) is 2'45. That actually makes it a very impressive climb by the breakaway, only losing 15 seconds despite the attacks from the peloton.
Vitor Rodrigues and David Abal join the move, but Alarcon and Pozzovivvo get a gap on them - and all bar those 2 are subsequently reintegrated back into the peloton.
This is dangerous for the other GC contenders though, as Pozzovivvo and Alarcon build themselves a minute's lead.
The peloton is down to 46 riders as Vrecer leads the next round of attacks. The Slovenian acts more as a launchpad than anything else as Michele Scarponi moves past him, followed by Rodrigues, Abal and our race leader in Pink, Timofey Kritskiy!
Rein Taaramae and Ardila go next - and it really is time to jump the sinking ship of a peloton as Caruso, Robert Kiserlovski, Theo Eltink, Jaroslav Popovych, Marco Osella, Der, and Thomas Lovkvist all also go clear.
The summit of Passo Redebus is near and Gian Piero Signorini makes it 2 out of 2 - Salgueiro barely able to cling on to his fellow Italian.
Cypriot Adamou is 30 seconds laster, but closing in on him are the power pair of Pozzovivo and Alarcon.
Abal, Scarponi, Taaramae, Kritskiy, Rodrigues and Scarponi are a full 90 seconds down on Pozzovivvo and Alarcon
Vrecer rides in no mans land, while a further 50 seconds behind Taaramae's group is Kiserlovski, Popovych, Caruso, Eltink, Der, Osella and Lovkvist.
Devolder and Pivovarna Lasko lead over the peloton a further 2 minutes down. They all have teammtes ahead although certainly in the case of the Slovenian squad it is not good for them that it is Serbian Zsolt Der rather than team leader Devolder.
Plenty of good climbers: Cataldo, Krasnoperov, Anton, Solis, Pellizotti etc are in here, but actually the team who should be most concerned are Meiji. Apart from Signorini who has been away all day, nobody attacked - not team leader Jianhua Ji, nor last year's Trentino star Peter Stetina.
We now have 20 km of downhill racing to the foot of the final climb, and risks need to be taken - especially by those who want to see Alarcon and Pozzovivvo again.
Those two have now caught the breakaway - and it is advantage Vespa with Salgueiro to help give everything he has left in support of his team leader.
Meanwhile Popovych and Kiserlovski have teamed up to good effect and brought themselves back to the Taaramae group.
Kiserlovski has got the knack of this descending business and moves to the front of the group he has just caught to help close down the gap to the leaders.
Here is a reminder of the riders who are clear:
Salgueiro, Pozzovivvo Alarcon Signorini Adamou
And chasing them at 50 seconds are: Kiserlovski, Rodrigues Caruso, Osella Eltink, Lovkvist Taaramae Abal Ardila Popovych Kritskiy Scarponi Vrecer Der
It seems certain that amongst them, these 19 will now determine who wins the Giro del Trentino over the next few days, and most likely the whole Top 10 too.
And as we start the climb, Adamou and Salgueiro are immediately dropped. And Caruso attacks!
The move doesnt work, but the pace is set high and the gap is now down to just 20 seconds!
And there has been a split! It's mostly the weaker climbers in the group, with the exception of David Abal! The Spaniard was caught napping a little there, and immediately hits the front to try to close the gap.
Some 5 minutes behind the action, the peloton are cruising along without a care in the world. Except that Vespa have been doing a little bit of pacing on the descent, and now Dario Cataldo decides to give himself something to do and attacks away.
Pozzovivvo and Alarcon move into the final 5 kilometres maintaining their 20 second advantage. Signorini has finally been forced to give up their wheel, and cannot keep with the chasers either.
Kritskiy, Taaramae, Popovych and Kiserlovski are riding a hard tempo to try to catch the leaders.
Ardila, Caruso and Rodrigues are excelling themselves to keep up with them, but suddenly all the lights go out and their legs turn to jelly. They find themselves unable to ride a bike, and drop the whole 90 seconds gap back to the Abal group. And it really is the Abal group, because he has been the only one relaying since that split formed just a few kilometres ago.
The race is down to 6 then. Pozzovivo and Alarcon vs Taaramae, Popovych, Kritskiy and Kiserlovski.
Kiserlovski and Taaramae try to attack, but cannot gap Popovych and Kritskiy. But Taaramae goes again and does start to eat up the ground towards the two leaders - as you would expect from the pre-race favourite!
He catches and moves alongside Jose Alarcon, but that is not as good as it might seem - for Pozzovivvo has just dropped Alarcon! For much of last season, it didnt seem possible that Alarcon could be dropped by anyone at this level.
Pozzovivvo is really putting in a ride to remember and despite the high quality climbers in pursuit, is increasing that lead to 28 seconds! There are just 2.3 kilometres to go.
Taaramae is making less of an impact than he would hope, and Alarcon is clearly in trouble. Popovych pulls himself, Kritskiy and Kiserlovski back up to the chasing pair ... but then they all look around each other, and hesitate!
One man not hesitating is Domenico Pozzovivvo. He just keeps on riding into the final kilometre.
Kritskiy takes up the responsibility, and Taaramae follows him - but the damage is done. They now trail Pozzovivvo by a minute.
And so Round 1 will go to the Vespa rider! Pozzovivvo wins the stage surprisingly comfortably in the end after quite an epic ride, and the celebrations truly begin.
Kiserlovski is starting to look threatening in the battle for 2nd as he swiftly moves himself up to Kritskiy and Taaramae inside the final kilometre.
But it is the Russian who will take 2nd place. The gap to Pozzovivvo is a whopping 1'22.
Kiserlovski takes 3rd place ahead of Taaramae, Popovych and an exhausted Alarcon.
It is the maglia rosa for Pozzovivo then, and he now holds a 1'13 lead on Kritskiy. It is very tight for 3rd though now. Taaramae and Kiserlovski tied on 1'30, with Popovych on 1'31. Alarcon finds himself at 1'59, but with the best Young rider consolation prize. Pozzovivvo will also take the first Points jersey of the race.
In the battle for 7th, it's not so much a battle as a showcase of a dissapointing Abal. He got dropped when he probably could have held on, but wasnt able to close that gap - and hasnt received any help in doing so either. Deservedly, he has been able to ride away from the the group as he turns into the final kilometre.
So, David Abal will take 7th on the stage: 4'34 behind Pozzovivvo! His gains on the rest of the group are limited by the fast sprint of Caruso, the Cisco rider given a time deficit of 4'43.
Really only Lovkvist finished with Caruso, but the group is stretched out at intervals that are either convenient or inconvenient, depending on how it affects you. Caruso's time is also awarded to Ardila, Scarponi, Rodrigues, Eltink ... and even Vrecer, Der and Osella as well!
Roughly a minute later finish Salgueiro and Signorini. The latter might have done better had he not been pressured into dropping back to the group behind when Ardila, Caruso and Rodrigues has decided they didnt want to try anymore. But the consolation is that he does take the King of the Mountains jersey, with a slender 2 point lead over Pozzovivo.
And who is that Vespa rider in the distance - it is Dario Cataldo! Finishing 5'52 behind his winning teammate means that he actually had the 2nd fastest time on the final climb of all riders in the race. It helped that he hadnt done any work to get away before that, sure, but it is an important ride nonetheless - it gives him a chance to salvage a good GC position still, and it pretty much guarantees Vespa overall victory in the teams classification.
Adamou finishes 90 seconds later, for 20th place, and his reward could be an unexpected Top 20 GC position out of this race for Armavia. This is because we have to wait 10 minutes before Stetina and Anton lead in a peloton that had expanded back to over 70 riders before the final kilometre sprint created a few gaps.
Two riders missed the timecut today: Luca Ascani and Zakkari Dempster.
