Coppa Sabatini 2021 [FULL RACE]

September 16, 2021

Coppa Sabatini 20 – Peccioli – Peccioli : 210,8 km

The Coppa Sabatini – Gran Premio città di Peccioli is one of the only Italian autumnal classics to favour the sprinters and puncheurs over the out and out climbers. Ever since its first edition in 1952 the Coppa Sabatini has followed a classic, rolling route around the town of Peccioli – home to both the start and finish of this one-day race. The terrain around this picturesque area of Italy is characterised by its pan-flat floodplains interspersed between steep-sided valleys and rugged hilltops. The race tends to follow several different circuits, starting with a large loop around the outskirts of Peccioli before transitioning onto a smaller, punchier circuit around the centre of the town. It’s on this urban loop that the race often erupts, largely thanks to the 1km-long climb that ramps up to the finish line on each 12.2km-long lap.

Michael Valgren (EF Education-Nippo) won his second race in two days in Tuscany on Thursday, adding victory at the Coppa Sabatini to Wednesday’s success at the Giro della Toscana.

The Dane beat new European Champion Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) on the uphill sprint finish to confirm his excellent form for the rapidly approaching World Championships. Mathieu Burgaudeau (DirectEnergies) was third at six seconds, with Italian Under 23 rider Filippo Baroncini taking fourth at nine seconds.

Thanks to his back to back victories, Valgren also won the Memorial Alfredo Martini prize that commemorates the legendary Italian national coach Alfredo Martini, who often used the Coppa Sabatini to make his final selection for the World Championships.

EF Education-Nippo again used their strength in numbers to win the race, placing three riders in the decisive attack of nine riders that attacked to join the early break of five.

James Whelan helped drive the break along and keep the peloton at over a minute for the final 50km of the 207.2km race. Then Neilson Powless made a strong solo attack on the final lap of the 12km Peccioli circuit. He looked set for victory only for Gianni Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers) to lead the chase on the exposed valley road into a headwind.

When Powless was caught at the foot of the climb to the finish, Valgren made sure he was well placed and then surged past Moscon in the final twisting kilometre. Colbrelli was able to follow him and then went to the front for the final corner but the Italian had nothing left when Valgren kicked again in sight of the finish line.

“It’s a nice way to win against Colbrelli. He’s a big favourite for the World Championships and so to beat him in an uphill sprint, is a big thing, is nice. I’m super happy,” Valgren said, somewhat surprised to have won again.

“This win is for the whole team, they were amazing. We rode fantastic so thanks to all of them. I had some really good help from my teammate Neilson Powless, who was strong, so I could just sit in the wheel into the headwind section. I knew I was strong and so thought to make it as hard as possible on the climb to see how it goes. Luckily I made it to the line.”

Valgren had not won a race since the Amstel Gold Race in 2018 before travelling to Tuscany, now he has won two in a row, justifying his place in a strong Danish team for the World Championships alongside Mads Pedersen, Kasper Asgreen, Magnus Cort and Mikkel Honoré.

“It’s a big dream for sure,” Valgren said of the World Championships.

“I’ll go there with a very strong team and hopefully we can win for Denmark.”

Results :
1 Michael Valgren Hundahl (Den) EF Education-Nippo 5:14:20
2 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:03
3 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:06
4 Filippo Baroncini (Ita) Italy 0:00:09
5 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:11
6 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:00:17
7 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:33
8 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:40
9 Ander Okamika Bengoetxea (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:01:25
10 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:31
11 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:38
12 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education-Nippo
13 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
14 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
15 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
16 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
17 Antonio Angulo Sampedro (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
18 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
19 Simone Velasco (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
20 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Italy
21 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana-Premier Tech
22 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
23 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
24 Daniel Muñoz Giraldo (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
25 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain Victorious
26 Luca Colnaghi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
27 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
28 Fabien Grellier (Fra) TotalEnergies
29 Gotzon Martin Sanz (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
30 Daniel Savini (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
31 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
32 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
33 Abner González Rivera (PuR) Movistar Team 0:01:50
34 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:52
35 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
36 William Barta (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:55
37 Michele Gazzoli (Ita) Italy 0:01:57
38 Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:02:08
39 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) TotalEnergies
40 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
41 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:17
42 Marco Frigo (Ita) Italy
43 Davide Orrico (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM 0:02:34
44 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:02:43
45 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
46 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:02:50
47 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:02:54
48 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Italy 0:04:11
49 Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo 0:06:58
DNF Marco Tizza (Ita) Italy
DNF Alessandro Fedeli (Ita) Italy
DNF Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Samuele Battistella (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Vadim Pronskiy (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious
DNF Jonathan Milan (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
DNF Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
DNF Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Maxime Jarnet (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team
DNF Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Michal Golas (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Luke Rowe (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Natnael Tesfazion (Eri) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Johnatan Cañaveral Vargas (Col) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Filippo Magli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Mark Christian (GBr) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
DNF Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
DNF Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
DNF Samuele Rivi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
DNF Vicente Hernaiz Santamaria (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
DNF Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
DNF Unai Cuadrado Ruiz De Gauna (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
DNF Txomin Juaristi Arrieta (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
DNF Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
DNF Iker Ballarin Manso (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
DNF Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Victor De La Parte (Spa) TotalEnergies
DNF Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies
DNF Valentin Ferron (Fra) TotalEnergies
DNF Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) TotalEnergies
DNF Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Mattia Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Giulio Masotto (Ita) Zalf Euromobil Fior
DNF Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Riccardo Tosin (Ita) General Store – F.Lli Curia – Essegibi
DNF Isaac Canton Serrano (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Victor Langellotti (Mon) Burgos-BH
DNF Alex Molenaar (Ned) Burgos-BH
DNF Felipe Orts Lloret (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Pelayo Sanchez Mayo (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Maksym Bilyi (Ukr) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Daniel Nastasi (Ita) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Nicolas Nesi (Ita) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Besnik Islami (Ita) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Luca Roberti (Ita) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Jeferson Armando Ruiz Acuña (Col) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Daniel Smarzaro (Ita) D’Amico Um Tools
DNF Francesco Di Felice (Ita) Mg.K Vis Vpm
DNF Fabio Di Guglielmo (Ita) Mg.K Vis Vpm
DNF Guido Draghi (Ita) Mg.K Vis Vpm
DNF Nicolo Pencedano (Ita) Mg.K Vis Vpm
DNF Jacopo Cortese (Ita) Mg.K Vis Vpm
DNF Niccolo’ Salvietti (Ita) Mg.K Vis Vpm
DNF Paul Wright (NZl) Mg.K Vis Vpm