The Pro Tour season finishes here in Lombardia with one of the most famous races on the calendar. At the top end of the table, Hagen will be hoping to help his team in the battle for second in the rankings - as will Skujins, Kelderman and Gastauer. At the other end of the rankings table, Van Garderen will be hoping to single handedly save Movistar - a literal uphill battle.
In races such as this it always takes a while to form the break. But before that could even happen, we had a crash in the peloton - with some big names down. Sagan and Schreurs are the most notable names, but also Schleck, Monfort and Bongiorno would have hoped to contribute here.
Those caught up in the crash would however make it back to the peloton, though at the cost of valuable energy. As we reached the foot of the Valico di Valcava (11.2km at 8%), a break had formed out front consisting of Skjerping and Ji - with a lead of around 5 minutes.
Nothing of note then to report until the approach to the Muro di Sormano - and another crash in the peloton. Only Haas, Smit and Chernetskiy would go down however, so nothing too serious. At this point the break still has around 5 minutes (107km to go).
You would expect the peloton to push the pace on the climb, with ramps above 15% in sections. But instead the pace is lowered and 177 riders come over the summit together. Earlier crashers Schleck and Haas are the biggest names missing, and the break has 5’30 in hand (87km to go).
News reaches us on the descent that Tsatevich has been forced to retire! No sign of him crashing, and he was in the peloton over the summit - clearly ill health for the Russian, and a devastating blow to Movistar’s hopes of staying up. The peloton is really pushing on now, with the gap to the break now under 3 minutes as we approach the Madonna del Ghisallo (70km to go).
The break would be caught near the summit of the climb, but still the peloton remained a large group of 156 riders. Only 56km and two climbs to go now, and a disappointing race for the neutral so far.
On the descent we see yet another crash. Lutsenko, Nerz and Meyer are the three main names down. It seems unlikely they’ll make up the 3 minute deficit to the peloton with only 45km to go, but we’ll have to see.
The pace is still quite low in the peloton as they pass through a tunnel with 36km to go - a chance to see the peloton from a rarely seen perspective here!
News reaches us early on the slopes of the Villa Vergano that Lutsenko has made it back to the peloton. With 25km to go the peloton still has 134 riders present, surely we’ll see some attacks soon? Incredibly as we approach the summit there still haven’t been any attacks. However the peloton has spat out 82 riders, no real names of note - the likes of Boom, Konovalovas, Smirnovs and Wallays really the strongest riders in this group.
Aker lead the 76 riders still in the peloton through the 20km to go banner and onto the descent. One climb to decide it all here then!
10km to go then, and one final climb followed by a sharp descent in Lecce before the Pro Tour season is over. Those dropped on the previous climb have made it back, so we have 135 riders heading up this final climb together - something nobody would have predicted this morning.
And as the climb begins, we get the first attacks of the day! Hagen, Bakelants and Trofimov jump first - Kelderman, Ponzi and Spilak attempt to chase immediately.
The trio immediately manage to establish a gap of 15 seconds, but it’s a precarious lead…
8km to go and Campero has closed the gap almost completely for Spilak, while Trofimov decides to drop back to the peloton and conserve his efforts. Hagen and Bakelants are pushing on, but they can feel the peloton bearing down on them.
Trofimov dropping back is the cue for Hagen and Bakelants to push on, and they increase their advantage up above 20 seconds. The change of pace behind also creates casualties…
Only 23 riders now remain in the chasing group. Their names:
So notably De Bie and Schreurs have missed out - a nightmare for Aegon here.
Campero is a machine today, and with 7km to go he drags Bakelants and Hagen back into the main group. Is anyone willing or able to attack now?
The pace slows enough now for all the riders dropped earlier on the climb to catch back on, but you have to wonder for how long - as now Bakelants and Hagen attack again, joined by Gastauer and Lutsenko.
Campero isn’t strong enough to bring this one back alone, and so the quartet crest the summit with 6km to go holding an advantage of 30 seconds - but will it be enough?
Under the 5km to go banner and the gap is down to 23 seconds, but the peloton is getting all strung out by the chase. Only 37 riders in the peloton now, with Schreurs out the back once again.
3km to go and Campero continues his excellent day, bringing back the quartet in front. We’re on course for a bunch sprint of 41 riders now, unless someone can launch a late flyer?
That doesn’t happen, and so we enter under the Flamme Rouge waiting to see who will kick off the sprint here. Bakelants and Ponzi are alone up front, while Suaza and Vakoc attempt a leadout for Gastauer and Sagan respectively. Trofimov, Ricco and Van Garderen are in the second row - with Hagen boxed in slightly behind Skujins.
Ponzi is the first to launch his sprint here, and Gastauer, Bakelants and Van Garderen look the best placed to challenge him…
500m from the line and Ponzi still looks the strongest, but did he go too early? Bakelants is fading, as is Gastauer. Van Garderen seems to not have a lot left, and in fact the rider to watch here is Dyrnes!
Ponzi still leads 250m from the line, with only Dyrnes moving faster than him at the front - surely he’ll take the win here?
Indeed he does! Dyrnes is an impressive second, with Gastauer in third.
It’s a chaotic finish behind him, with a number of surprises. Bakelants takes 4th, with Suaza in 5th. Van Garderen is 6th ahead of two other surprise packages - Hofland and Vakoc, while Sagan and Ricco round out the top 10.
Trofimov (14th), Spilak (18th) and Hagen (19th) will be the most disappointed trio today. And with that, the 2016 Pro Tour season is over!
