Tour of the Alps 2017 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

April 17, 2017

Tour of the Alps 2017 – Stage 1– Kufstein-Innsbruck – Hungerburg : 142,3 km

The 2017 Tour of the Alps is a road cycling stage race that takes place in Austria and Italy between 17 and 21 April 2017. It is the 41st edition of the re-named Giro del Trentino and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the 2017 UCI Europe Tour.

Michele Scarponi (Astana Team) rolled back the years to take his first win of the season on stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps. The Italian rider was part of an elite group that formed on the final climb of the Hungerburg with less than 4km to go.

Despite several accelerations from Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Domencio Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale), Scarponi hung on and outsprinted the rest of the breakaway to win the stage and pull on the first leader’s jersey of this year’s race. Thomas crossed the line in second place with another GC rival, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) in third.

Scarponi was nominated as Astana’s leader for the Giro d’Italia last week after it was confirmed that Fabio Aru would miss the race through injury.

The first stage of the race was littered with uncategorised climbs and it was Team Sky who set the pace for much of the day, first reeling in the early breaks before setting the pace for Thomas all the way up the final climb of the day. The British rider was a leading presence in the finale, as he, Rohan Dennis, Pinot, Pozzovivo and Scarponi moved into the driving seat, but the short length of the ascent meant that gaps were hard to create. Scarponi followed wheels for most of the climb before breaking through in the final 75m to take the stage.

The early stages of the day were marked by a group containing Nicola Bagioli (Nippo – Vini Fantini), Davide Ballerini (Androni Giocattoli), Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Triestina), Davide Orrico (Sangemini – Mg. K VIS) and Luca Raggio (Italy), who moved clear inside the first 25km. They established a lead close to two minutes but on the first categorised of the Aschau Team Sky brought them back. Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-RusVelo) was the next rider to go clear but he was soon passed by a dangerous move consisting of Iuri Filosi (Nippo Fantini), Francesco Gavazzi (Androni) and Matthias Krizek of the Tirol Cycling team.

The three leaders opened up a reasonable gap during the second half of the stage, but Team Sky and the rest of the squads with GC aspirations were unwilling to allow any move a chance of deciding the stage.

With 17km to go and just a long descent before the final climb, only Filosi remained clear, with the bunch hot on his heels. BMC Racing and Astana both joined Team Sky at the front, but it was AG2R La Mondiale who attacked first. Dennis was alert to the first set of attacks but began to drift backwards when Thomas and Pozzovivo upped the pace with only 2,000m to go. There was a brief injection of pace from Bora’s Jose Mendes but when Thomas pushed on the pedals once more only a select group could follow. There as a re-grouping just before the line, with Davide Formolo and Dario Cataldo latching onto the leaders but Scarponi showed a clean pair of wheels to take his first win since 2013.

Results :
1 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 3:32:15
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ
4 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
7 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:04
8 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:08
9 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:11
10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
11 José Mendes (Por) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:13
12 Danilo Celano (Ita) Italy 0:00:17
13 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac
14 Egan Bernal (Col) Androni Giocattoli
15 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:22
17 Rodolfo Torres (Col) Androni Giocattoli
18 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
19 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
20 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:26
21 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky
22 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
23 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
24 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
25 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
26 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:00:35
27 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
28 Matteo Busato (Ita) Wilier Triestina 0:00:42
29 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:00:48
30 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:56
31 Julen Amezqueta (Spa) Wilier Triestina
32 Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Wilier Triestina
33 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:05
35 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ 0:01:20
36 Yonder Godoy (Ven) Wilier Triestina
37 Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Wilier Triestina
38 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:01:27
39 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:01:30
40 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:01:41
41 Stefan Denifl (Aut) Aqua Blue Sport 0:01:50
42 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:02:05
43 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
44 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:02:47
45 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
46 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
47 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
48 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
49 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ
50 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport
51 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
52 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
53 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
54 Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
55 Antonio Zullo (Ita) Italy
56 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
57 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:03:10
58 Matthias Krizek (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:03:40
59 Michele Gazzara (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis 0:04:38
60 Paolo Totò (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis 0:04:57
61 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:05:27
62 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
63 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:05:44
64 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:05:51
65 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
66 Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:23
67 Raffaello Bonusi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:09:07
68 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
69 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Italy
70 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
71 Josu Zabala (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
72 Alberto Amici (Ita) Italy
73 Jérémy Maison (Fra) FDJ
74 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
75 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:10:04
76 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
77 Davide Orrico (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
78 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
79 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
80 Simone Velasco (Ita) Bardiani CSF
81 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
82 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Italy
83 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
84 Nikodemus Holler (Ger) Bike Aid
85 Nicola Gaffurini (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
86 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
87 Jan Bárta (Cze) Bora-Hansgrohe
88 Daniel Martinez (Col) Wilier Triestina
89 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
90 Maximilian Kuen (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team
91 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
92 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
93 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
94 Matteo Natali (Ita) Italy
95 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Tirol Cycling Team
96 Luca Raggio (Ita) Italy
97 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Italy
98 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
99 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
100 Leigh Howard (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:11:38
101 Patrick Gamper (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team
102 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ 0:11:47
103 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF
104 Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team
105 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina
106 Suleiman Kangangi (Ken) Bike Aid
107 Lucas Schwarz (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:11:51
108 David Arroyo (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:11:54
109 Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
110 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:12:00
111 Salim Kipkemboi (Ken) Bike Aid 0:13:32
112 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:14:39
113 Enrico Salvador (Ita) Tirol Cycling Team
114 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
115 Awet Habtom Tekle (Eri) Bike Aid 0:19:12
116 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
117 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:19:54
118 Adne Van Engelen (Ned) Bike Aid 0:21:06
119 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
120 Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
121 Daniel Bichlmann (Ger) Bike Aid
122 Niccolo’ Salvietti (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
123 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
124 Martyn Irvine (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
125 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
126 Paolo Prandini (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
127 Simone Bernardini (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
128 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
129 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
130 Valens Ndaiasenga (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team
131 Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport
132 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
133 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
134 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
135 Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
136 Timo Schäfer (Ger) Bike Aid
137 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:21:15
138 Timothy Rugg (USA) Bike Aid
DNF Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 3:32:05
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:04
3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:06
4 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:10
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
7 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:14
8 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:18
9 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:21
10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
11 José Mendes (Por) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:23
12 Danilo Celano (Ita) Italy 0:00:27
13 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac
14 Egan Bernal (Col) Androni Giocattoli
15 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:32
17 Rodolfo Torres (Col) Androni Giocattoli
18 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
19 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
20 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:36
21 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky
22 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
23 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
24 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
25 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
26 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:00:45
27 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
28 Matteo Busato (Ita) Wilier Triestina 0:00:52
29 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:00:58
30 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:06
31 Julen Amezqueta (Spa) Wilier Triestina
32 Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Wilier Triestina
33 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:15
35 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ 0:01:30
36 Yonder Godoy (Ven) Wilier Triestina
37 Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Wilier Triestina
38 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:01:37
39 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:01:40
40 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:01:51
41 Stefan Denifl (Aut) Aqua Blue Sport 0:02:00
42 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:02:15
43 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
44 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:02:57
45 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
46 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
47 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
48 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
49 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ
50 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport
51 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
52 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
53 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
54 Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
55 Antonio Zullo (Ita) Italy
56 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
57 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:03:20
58 Matthias Krizek (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:03:50
59 Michele Gazzara (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis 0:04:48
60 Paolo Totò (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis 0:05:07
61 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:05:37
62 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
63 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:05:54
64 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:06:01
65 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
66 Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:33
67 Raffaello Bonusi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:09:17
68 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
69 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Italy
70 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
71 Josu Zabala (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
72 Alberto Amici (Ita) Italy
73 Jérémy Maison (Fra) FDJ
74 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
75 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:10:14
76 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
77 Davide Orrico (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
78 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
79 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
80 Simone Velasco (Ita) Bardiani CSF
81 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
82 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Italy
83 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
84 Nikodemus Holler (Ger) Bike Aid
85 Nicola Gaffurini (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
86 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
87 Jan Bárta (Cze) Bora-Hansgrohe
88 Daniel Martinez (Col) Wilier Triestina
89 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
90 Maximilian Kuen (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team
91 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
92 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
93 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
94 Matteo Natali (Ita) Italy
95 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Tirol Cycling Team
96 Luca Raggio (Ita) Italy
97 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Italy
98 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
99 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
100 Leigh Howard (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:11:48
101 Patrick Gamper (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team
102 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ 0:11:57
103 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF
104 Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team
105 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina
106 Suleiman Kangangi (Ken) Bike Aid
107 Lucas Schwarz (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:12:01
108 David Arroyo (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:12:04
109 Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
110 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:12:10
111 Salim Kipkemboi (Ken) Bike Aid 0:13:42
112 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:14:49
113 Enrico Salvador (Ita) Tirol Cycling Team
114 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
115 Awet Habtom Tekle (Eri) Bike Aid 0:19:22
116 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
117 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:20:04
118 Adne Van Engelen (Ned) Bike Aid 0:21:16
119 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
120 Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
121 Daniel Bichlmann (Ger) Bike Aid
122 Niccolo’ Salvietti (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
123 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
124 Martyn Irvine (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
125 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
126 Paolo Prandini (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
127 Simone Bernardini (Ita) Sangemini – Mg. K Vis
128 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
129 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
130 Valens Ndaiasenga (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team
131 Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport
132 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
133 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
134 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
135 Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
136 Timo Schäfer (Ger) Bike Aid
137 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:21:25
138 Timothy Rugg (USA) Bike Aid