Gran Piemonte 2019 [LAST 20 KM]

October 10, 2019

Gran Piemonte 2019 – Agliè – Santuario di Oropa : 183 km

The Giro del Piemonte, since 2009 known also as Gran Piemonte, is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the Apennine Mountains, Italy. The race first took place in 1906. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is usually held a few days before the more important race Giro di Lombardia.

Egan Bernal claimed the first one-day race victory of his career at Gran Piemonte on Thursday, triumphing atop Oropa to cap a devastating Team Ineos performance in a revamped edition of the Italian Classic.

Previously a moderately hilly affair, won last year by Sonny Colbrelli, the Gran Piemonte became a true climber’s race in 2019, with the Nelva climb preceding the summit finish at the Oropa Sanctuary – scene of a memorable Marco Pantani comeback at the 1999 Giro d’Italia.

Bernal pointed to the Team Ineos logo on his jersey as he crossed the line alone on the cobbles in front of the Sanctuary, and he had every reason to. Having controlled the peloton for much of the day, the British team performed what was effectively a five-man lead-out all the way up the 11.8-kilometre final climb.

Their dominance was underscored by the fact that Ivan Sosa, the last rider in that train, took second place, sprinting clear of a four-man chase group several seconds behind his fellow Colombian. Sosa had previously reduced the lead group to just seven riders and his final turn was such that he and Bernal suddenly found themselves alone at the head of the race with just under 2km to go. At that point, Bernal opened the taps and never looked back.

Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) claimed the final spot on the podium ahead of the two other members of the chase group, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates).

“I’m really happy because it’s my first victory in Italy. I’ve done a lot of races here and Piemonte is the region I lived in for two years, so it’s really special to win here,” Bernal said.

“I was feeling really good during the race and asked the guys to do a good tempo on the climb. Sosa did a really good job. I won, but Sosa was almost stronger than me. In the end, when I saw we were away as two, I tried to go full gas to the finish, because you never know, sometimes people can come back. Sosa did a really really good job and showed he’s one of the strongest climbers in the peloton.”

How it unfolded

The Gran Piemonte underwent something of a makeover for its 2019 edition, leaning away from the finisseurs and sprinters and towards the climbers. The first 150km of the 183km route were flat, but there were two major climbs in the finale. First up was the climb at Nelva, a 13km climb whose average gradient of at 3.2 per cent is mitigated by a 2km descent just over half-way up. A 10km descent then led to the foot of Oropa, an 11.8km climb with an average gradient of 6.2 per cent. Best known for Pantani’s victory in 1999, it was more recently used in the 2017, when Tom Dumoulin claimed victory en route to the overall title.

The race started out with an early breakaway, containing: Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis), Carlos Barbero (Movistar), Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic), Francesco Romano (Bardiani-CSF), Mattia Bais (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Enrico Battaglin (Katusha-Alpecin).

They built a lead of five minutes in the first hour but that steadily dropped as the race made its way north west. Well before the climbing, a number of big names were out of the race, Richard Carapaz (Movistar), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Davide Formolo and Rafał Majka (both Bora-Hansgrohe), all taking advantage of the feed zone at KM100 to climb off and rest up for Saturday’s Il Lombardia.

Ineos, with some help from UAE, set the pace in the peloton as they approached the finale, and they were less than a minute behind the break as they hit the Nelva climb. As soon as the road went uphill, the break shattered, leaving Rossetto and Bais out front. Rossetto soon went it alone, but was caught by the Ineos-led bunch on the top section of the climb.

From there, almost no one apart from Ineos spent any time at the front. After the descent, Jonathan Castroviejo led the way onto the final climb at the head of a line of six riders. The opening five kilometres were gentle, averaging little over 4 per cent, and the time trial specialist strung out the bunch. When the gradient ramped up on a much steeper middle section, Salvatore Puccio took over. The only blemish on the Ineos report card was the fact Gianni Moscon was dropped at this point and was unable to offer up a turn.

Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale) threw in an attack with 4.5km to go. Puccio couldn’t chase it so he moved aside for Diego Rosa, who dragged Frank back with 4km to go, at which point 25 riders remained in contention. After a big out-of-the-saddle turn, Rosa moved aside with 3.5km to go, leaving Sosa in front of Bernal. He did immediate damage, although the formation of a seven-rider selection was partly due to an Astana rider losing the wheel in front of him. Sosa went about riding those that remained off the wheel, Davide Villella (Astana) being the first to lose contact, followed by Frank, and then Martin. With 1,800m to go, Buchmann fell away, and Peters lost the wheel, too, leaving the Ineos duo alone out front. Seeing this, Bernal quickly decided to take advantage and accelerate away. He opened up a lead of 16 seconds as Sosa settled into a chase group with Peters, Buchmann and, eventually, Martin.

As Bernal sat up and celebrated in the shadow of the Oropa Sanctuary, Sosa sprinted to second place to cap one of the most one-sided races in recent memory.

Results :
1 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos 4:24:16
2 Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:06
3 Nans Peters (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:08
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora – Hansgrohe 0:00:10
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Uae Team Emirates 0:00:11
6 Mathias Frank (Swi) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:40
7 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:46
8 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm 0:00:47
9 Clement Champoussin (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
10 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:49
11 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:00:52
12 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:00
13 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:06
14 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) Ef Education First 0:01:08
15 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:01:12
16 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
17 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) Team Dimension Data
18 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Bahrain – Merida 0:01:17
19 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:20
20 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
21 Jan Polanc (Slo) Uae Team Emirates 0:01:50
22 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:01:55
23 Gino Mader (Swi) Team Dimension Data 0:02:03
24 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:17
25 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec 0:02:19
26 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos
27 Clement Chevrier (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
28 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora – Hansgrohe 0:02:23
29 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Biesse Carrera 0:02:28
30 Kevin Rivera Serrano (CRc) Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec
31 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:02:33
32 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec 0:02:45
33 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels 0:03:06
34 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:03:08
35 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm 0:03:14
36 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain – Merida 0:03:17
37 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels 0:03:22
38 Miguel Eduardo Florez Lopez (Col) Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec 0:03:53
39 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:56
40 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:31
41 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
42 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
43 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:41
44 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm
45 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani Csf 0:04:42
46 Jeremy Maison (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic 0:04:45
47 Aleksei Rybalkin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
48 Nathan Brown (USA) Ef Education First 0:04:52
49 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
50 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos 0:05:02
51 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:07:21
52 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora – Hansgrohe 0:07:29
53 Davide Gabburo (Ita) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm
54 Steff Cras (Bel) Team Katusha Alpecin 0:07:37
55 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’ 0:08:57
56 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:10:29
57 Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:10:35
58 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Israel Cycling Academy 0:10:42
59 Aurelien Doleatto (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic
60 Awet Andemeskel (Eri) Israel Cycling Academy
61 Mattia Bais (Ita) Cycling Team Friuli Asd 0:11:00
62 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
63 Daniel Muñoz Giraldo (Col) Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec
64 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Team Katusha Alpecin
65 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels 0:11:07
66 Luca Covili (Ita) Bardiani Csf 0:11:22
67 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:11:49
68 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:12:14
69 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
70 Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Ineos
71 Maxime Chevalier (Fra) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels
72 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos 0:12:49
73 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Ef Education First 0:13:10
74 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Uae Team Emirates
75 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
76 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:14:36
77 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani Csf 0:16:18
78 Patrick Muller (Swi) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels 0:17:02
79 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels
80 Sean Bennett (USA) Ef Education First 0:18:11
81 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Ef Education First
82 Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani Csf
83 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha Alpecin 0:19:04
84 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
85 Vladislav Kulikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
OTL Jaco Venter (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:21:26
OTL Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain – Merida
OTL Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain – Merida 0:23:48
OTL Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain – Merida
OTL Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team Katusha Alpecin
OTL Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’
OTL Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) Uae Team Emirates
OTL Roberto Gonzalez (Pan) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm
OTL Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain – Merida
OTL Joan Bou Company (Spa) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’
OTL Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Team Katusha Alpecin
OTL Umberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani Csf
OTL Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Ineos 0:26:50
OTL Oliviero Troia (Ita) Uae Team Emirates
OTL Daniel Savini (Ita) Bardiani Csf
OTL Filippo Zaccanti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’
OTL Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Team Katusha Alpecin
OTL Ivo Oliveira (Por) Uae Team Emirates
OTL Matthew Walls (GBr) Ef Education First
OTL Umberto Marengo (Ita) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm
OTL Evgeny Kobernyak (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:27:06
OTL Maxime Cam (Fra) Vital Concept – B&B Hotels 0:29:53
OTL Ruben Dario Acosta Ospina (Col) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’ 0:32:08
DNS Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani Csf
DNS Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Neri Sottoli Selle Italia Ktm
DNS Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad – Net.De
DNF Francois Bidard (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
DNF Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Sacha Modolo (Ita) Ef Education First
DNF Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
DNF Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’
DNF Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic
DNF Enrico Gasparotto (Swi) Team Dimension Data
DNF Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Alejandro Osorio Carvajal (Col) Nippo – Vini Fantini – Faizane’
DNF Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Ruben Plaza (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic
DNF Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic
DNF Romain Le Roux (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic
DNF Amael Moinard (Fra) Team Arkea – Samsic
DNF Danilo Wyss (Swi) Team Dimension Data
DNF Nicolas Dalla Valle (Ita) Tirol Ktm Cycling Team