The final C1 race of the year is here! Will 2018 champion Kinoshita be able to defend his title? Can Kelderman and Beltran stop him? Or will we see an upset? Let’s jump right in and find out!
Despite having one of the deepest supporting rosters in the race, ISA - Hexacta don’t seem keen on doing any work in the peloton, so they send Manfredi on the attack. Menicucci is the first to respond.
A quartet of Joeaar, Vila, Hofstede and Hofer tries to close the gap. Neither Eddie Stobart nor Centovalli or Delvaux have very strong team captains here, so a breakaway might be their best chance of getting some good TV coverage. Martin goes after them a bit later.
Mraouni and Joseph bridge the gap and all previous attackers form a group of nine at the head of the race, but the peloton is still chasing.
But after a while, they relent and it looks like we have our break of the day.
The breakaway’s lead peaked at five and a half minutes, stabilized and now slowly starts to decrease a bit thanks to a variety of teams sharing the work at the head of the peloton. Both Kinoshita and Kelderman continously ride around 20th position, staying alert now already.
Passing through some of the first slight (and I mean, really slight) hills, we already see a few splits opening up in the peloton. Caught behind here are the likes of Umerbekov, Mehr-Wenige and Gallopin, among others. This quickly comes back together, but it’s a warning sign.
The breakaway is still working together decently well and with the likes of Mraouni, Joseph and a few others, there are some solid rouleurs in this group. Still, their lead is down to just over three minutes now with 60 kilometers to go, and the hills suit them far less than flat roads.
Not surprisingly, Rakuten, Iberia and Swisslion have emerged as the main forces in the pursuit, with some help of Popo4Ever.
Once again, the peloton splinters a bit on the backend as we continue through some hilly terrain. Stuyven leads this second group of chasers ( Vichot and Gallopin are still in the main pack) and Umerbekov is just ahead, alongside Masnada and a few decent domestiques like Kebede and Skjerping, among others. This looks like it could be more permanent.
Worryingly, Siskevicius also has to leave a gap soon afterwards. With all of his teammates long gone from the peloton, he’s left to chase on his own. Behind him is Boily, who was caught off-guard while getting some water bottles. Both make it back to pack, but they have a ways to go to get to the front.
As we’re entering the final 30 kilometers, it’s time to take a closer look at what’s in store for the riders. And it’s a lot! That first short but very steep ramp prior to the longest climb of the day will be a first test to both the favorites’ strength and their attentiveness before the final 15-ish kilometers are constantly alternating between really steep and slightly less steep parts of the climbs, with a few short descents and one longer one mixed in between.
Already on the climb before that short hill, the peloton starts to thin out. Once again, Siskevicius is caught behind, it looks like he really just doesn’t have good legs today. Among the riders having trouble ahead of him are strong domestiques Zakarin, Paulus and Barrio.
This selection is the result of some intense pace set at the front of the peloton, currently by Tanovitchii, with Swisslion and Rakuten both having a strong presence as well. The escapees are now less than two minutes ahead.
Just over the top of that ascent, Mehr-Wenige can’t keep up with the pack anymore either. He drops back alongside Tunesian champ Khederi, the race likely being over (in terms of a good result) for both of them.
A huge effort by Swisslion actually breaks a group of just 21 riders free from the rest of the peloton! Favorites in this group include, from front to back:
Kinoshita
Kelderman
Bilbao
Beltran
Izagirre
Vogt
Prevar
Di Maggio
Jensen
Flügel
Vakoc
Kwiatkowski
Betancourt
Waeytens
Yates
The remaining domestiques are Pibernik and Kasa, Denz, Marczynski, Bernas and Cerny, leaving many favorites isolated. But the gap to the riders behind them isn’t too large, so we’ll see how this develops.
The breakaway is on that short, steep hill now with slopes up to 18%. They have just over a minute on the first group of the still splintered peloton, but at least they make it over the top in one piece.
Another outside favorite who seems completely out of the competition is Gebrezgabihier. He’s currently in the fourth group on the road (counting the breakaway as the first) alongside the likes of Palini and Zakarin.
Over the top of that ramp, Sinkeldam just barely leads the chasers to the group around the top favorites, but this has the potential to break again at any second. Reichenbach, Edmondson, Juul-Jensen and Dowsett are among the leaders close by - can they make the jump to the front?
No, none of them can. The same exact 21 riders stay in front again, quickly gaining 30 seconds on the chasers, where Sinkeldam continues to lead the pursuit but looks pretty spent. But Juul-Jensen still has Haas with him.
Meanwhile, we have the first attack from the breakaway: Joseph is feeling himself - let’s see how far he can go.
Building on Sinkeldam’s efforts, Juul-Jensen goes on the attack! With Reichenbach, Dowsett, Edmondson and a surprisingly strong Gallopin, he breaks away from the main chasing group. Up ahead, Pibernik is done for the day, but with three riders left, Swisslion is still the most prominent faction in that group.
We’re in the first steep parts of the penultimate climb now and the breakaway is caught after Joseph’s attack didn’t go anywhere. As they swallow the escapees, this group has more than a minute on the still Juul-Jensen-led quintet behind them.
But these chasers haven’t given up just yet. Di Maggio is the first big name to drop from the main group and he is immediately overtaken by Juul-Jensen, Reichenbach, Edmondson and Gallopin. Dowsett is struggling a bit and is now accompanied by Paulinho just outside the frame. Marczynski is dropped from the leaders’ group as well, with Denz struggling, too.
With Kasa dropping alongside former escapees Joseph and Bernas, only Cerny remains as a non- Bilbao domestique, a very strong performance by the Czech. Yates, who has been on the back of the group ever since it formed, is trying to hold on in big man Vogt’s slipstream.
We have the first major attack! Beltran tries to break free with a big acceleration! Prevar immediately has his wheel, Jensen, Kelderman and Kinoshita are next in line, Izagirre alone on the other side of the road.
The first big-name victim of the attack is Betancourt, who falls behind alongside Hofer and Mraouni - Joeaar, Manfredi, Hofstede, Vila and Martin are the breakaway riders still keeping up, although presumably not for long.
Beltran’s acceleration most likely means the end of the hopes of catching up for this group. But they are still in play for a Top 15 finish if they can keep up a good pace. Leading the way are Reichenbach and Juul-Jensen, surrounded mostly by dropped riders, but Edmondson and Gallopin still hold on. Paulinho, a cratering Di Maggio and Dowsett are between them and the next bigger group around Gebrezgabihier and Froome.
But let’s turn our attention back to the front, where Beltran and Prevar have established a gap! Jensen couldn’t hold their wheel, now it’s Yates who leads the pursuit, having just conserved his energy so far, it seems.
Yates actually breaks free, now followed by top favorite Kinoshita. Jensen has another effort in him and tries to close the gap, followed by Kelderman and Izagirre.
Prevar couldn’t keep up with Beltran, so a trio now chases the lone leader. The rest of the favorites trail these three by around 25 seconds.
At the backend of said chasing group, Bilbao and Vogt can’t keep up anymore and even Cerny finally cracks. Joeaar is the last of the escapees trying to hold on, but he’s gone as well just a few meters later.
Which leaves us with seven riders in pursuit of the first four: Kelderman, Izagirre, Vakoc, Jensen, Waeytens, Flügel and Kwiatkowski. If nothing dramatic happens, these 11 riders will fight for the Top 10, the podium and of course the win.
Make that 10: Jensen can’t hold on anymore after those previous two short accelerations. Not a great management of resources, it seems.
Yates and Kinoshita leave Prevar behind and close in on Beltran, but the gaps both in front of and behind the duo are only at around 10 seconds now. Just a few more meters until the longer descent.
On that descent, the front three unite and they still have a small gap on their chasers, but it’s only around 15 seconds.
As we head into the final climb, here’s a quick look at the situation behind the first 10. Jensen looks reasonably safe at the moment, with his biggest competitors around 1’30 behind him. Reichenbach and Juul-Jensen continue to make their way through some of the dropped riders, potentially catching up with Vogt and Bilbao soon.
We’re into the final climb which, just as a reminder, is 3.5 kilometers long with a short downhill stretch halfway through, and the leaders still have a small gap. To make sure it stays that way, Beltran immediately attacks, but Yates and Kinoshita are attentive and counter that acceleration.
Izagirre is leading the pursuit, the gap at just over 20 seconds now, with Kelderman at the back of the group. He’s been close to the front at all times so far, we’ll see if he can make it back again.
It doesn’t look like it! Kwiatkowski and Prevar leave a gap, and Kelderman is either caught behind or simply can’t keep up anymore either! Certainly a big surprise, this almost certainly takes him out of contention.
The trio up front keeps a small lead as they throw themselves into the descent. But a lot can still happen on that final steep climb to the finish.
Behind them, Izagirre increases the pace in an effort to get back into the mix. Flügel can’t keep up, Waeytens and Vakoc have to dig deep!
One final look back before we head into the finish: Reichenbach and Juul-Jensen now lead a group with Hofstede, Betancourt, Vogt, Bilbao and Vila.
They are 18 seconds behind a trio of Cerny, Martin and Joeaar, another 19 seconds behind Manfredi, and then Jensen looks like he’s not in great shape anymore, just another 17 seconds ahead. With more than 3 kilometers to got for them, a lot can still change, but some breakaway riders could be in for a big result here.
Another group of 8 around Edmondson, Gallopin and Denz is some 35 seconds further behind.
But now, let’s focus on the finale: As soon as they hit the ascent, Kinoshita accelerates! He goes for the win, and he also wants to make sure that Izagirre won’t be able to catch up. The Spaniard has brought a bit of road between himself and Vakoc and Waeytens.
Under the red kite, Kinoshita is back in the saddle, all of a sudden not looking that fresh anymore. Yates tries to move past him, but at an incline of 16%, no one is all that fast right now. What has Beltran left in the tank?
It’s a slow race to the top as the leaders draw level. Izagirre, still 25 seconds behind, will likely have to settle for fourth, unless he has one big punch left.
Behind him, Vakoc has taken a potentially decisive lead over Waeytens, with Flügel somewhat safely in seventh place ahead of the trio of Kelderman, Kwiatkowski and Prevar.
500 meters to go and Beltran has taken the lead! Kinoshita doesn’t look great here.
You really can’t call it an acceleration, but Yates moves side by side with Beltran. It looks like it’s between the two of them now!
And Beltran has it! He was the first to attack and he is the first to cross the line! A great performance by a worthy winner, but also a stellar race by Yates, who comes in second. Kinoshita finishes third, 11 seconds later, which is a good result but he had hoped for more and came so close to back-to-back wins.
Further down the road, Kelderman tries to salvage his race. He’s leaving his companions behind and is closing in on Flügel, trying to at least move into seventh place.
But first, Izagirre takes a solid fourth place. He was clearly the strongest outside of the Top 3, but his eventual deficit of 55 seconds is also pretty significant.
Meanwhile, in a stunning development, Jensen has lost a ton of ground, dropping all the way to the group around Cerny. It’s Manfredi, who’s currently on his way to the 11th place.
Finishing not 11th but 5th is Vakoc, 1’47 behind Beltran, a good result for him, as is the sixth place for Waeytens.
Kelderman’s final push wasn’t succesful, he finishes disappoingly on an 8th place behind Flügel. Prevar, having maybe overdone it a bit when countering Beltran’s initial attack, just barely beats out Kwiatkowski as the two round out the Top 10.
In the battle for the Top 15 positions, Reichenbach and Juul-Jensen have caught up with Jensen, Martin and Joeaar, but Cerny has broken away in pursuit of Manfredi, trying to get the best domestique result of the day.
And he does so easily, adding to an already good day for Lierse. Manfredi and Centovalli will also be very happy with this unexpected 12th place, I assume.
Reichenbach accelerates past Juul-Jensen and Jensen towards 13th place, while Palini leads a big group with most of the previously dropped top riders, threatening to swallow the former escapees at the last minute!
And they do! Palini puts a bit of a positive spin on this race for Philips by just barely beating Juul-Jensen at the line. The Dane finishes 15th, certainly a better performance than at many other times in the season. Jensen ends up 16th, a rather disappointing result all things considered, Sepulveda and Zakarin both overtake their also disappointing leader Betancourt in the final meters to give ISA at least two riders in the Top 20.
Kasa, whose strong performance earlier on laid the groundwork for Beltran’s victory and who actually ends up ahead of Bilbao, and Dieteren complete the Top 20 ahead of the aforementioned Betancourt and Paulinho - a bad day for Berg Cycles as well, with Vogt completely imploding in the final few kilometers. Martin and Joeaar lose quite a few places on these last few hundered meters, but a finish inside the Top 25 is probably still much more than they had expected this morning.
The aforementioned Vogt finishes 33rd, just ahead of Edmondson, another name on the quite long list of riders who won’t be pleased with their performance. Also on that list are Dowsett and Di Maggio, who both looked decently well at one point but dropped a lot later on and eventually end up well outside the Top 50.
Also outside of the Top 50 among those who could have been expected to score some points here are Zordan (57th), Siskevicius (61st), Gebrezgabihier (78th, completing a bad day for ENI - MOL), Froome (93rd, although after a lot of domestique work earlier on), Barrio (108th), Mehr-Wenige (123rd) and Umerbekov (124th).
Milano - Torino 
