Tour of the Alps 2017 – Stage 2 [LAST KM]

April 18, 2017

Tour of the Alps 2017 – Stage 2 – Innsbruck – Innervillgraten : 181,3 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.

Rohan Dennis (BMC) claimed victory on the snow-shortened second stage of the Tour of the Alps in Innervillgraten, while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) divested Michele Scarponi (Astana) of the race leader’s fuchsia jersey.

Dennis showed impressive strength to rip clear of a sizeable leading group on the uphill finish to take the stage honours. Pinot was unable to get back on terms, but the six-second time bonus he picked up for second place was enough to bring him level on time with Scarponi and move into the overall lead on points.

Davide Ballerini (Androni Giocattoli) claimed third on the stage, while Geraint Thomas (Sky) continued his Giro d’Italia preparations with fourth ahead of Eduard Prades (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

After losing 21 seconds in the finale of Monday’s opening stage, Dennis was pleased to make amends with his smart finish here. The Australian is set to make his Giro d’Italia debut next month, where he will line up alongside Tejay van Garderen.

“Yesterday was a confidence hit so to be able to get the win today gives me a bit of confidence for May,” Dennis, who moves up to 7th overall in the Tour of the Alps, 11 seconds behind Pinot. “The rest of this week, with the bigger climbs, might suit me a bit better.”

Heavy snow meant that the mighty Brenner Pass was removed from the day’s stage, which was shortened by 40 kilometres with the start moved from Innsbruck to Vipiteno. The amendment to the stage left just two climbs on the day’s agenda, the category 2 St. Julia, and the uncategorised haul to the finish.

Buffeted by a chilly tailwind, there was a brisk start to proceedings, and the early escapees Pascal Ackermann (Bora – Hansgrohe), Patrick Gamper (Tirol Cycling Team), Niccolò Salvietti (Sangemini – MG.Kvis) and Simone Velasco (Bardiani – CSF) would cover some 50.2 kilometres in the stiff first hour of racing.

With the bunch puffed along by the tailwind, establishing a winning advantage was always going to be a difficult task for the leading quartet. Their maximum buffer was 2:10, and they were duly brought to heel at the base of St. Julia, with a shade under 30 kilometres remaining.

On the climb, Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom Rusvelo), winner of the mountain time trial to Alpe di Siusi at last year’s Giro, was prominent. The Russian went clear in the company of Michele Gazzara (Sangemini – Mg. K Vis) and Nicholas Schultz (Caja Rural), but quickly shed himself of company and proceeded towards the summit alone.

Foliforov’s advantage was a mere 10 seconds by the top, however, as he was stalked by a strong chase group composed of last year’s winner Mikel Landa (Sky), Ilia Koshevoy (Wilier Triestina) and Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani). They caught Foliforov on the long descent, and were later joined by Damiano Caruso (BMC), opening a lead of 30 seconds over the peloton.

Pirazzi, as is his wont, was the principal aggressor in the leading group. The Italian attacked alone on the shallow descent off the St. Julia, but was caught by Landa and Caruso with 7 kilometres remaining as the road climbed towards the finish.

As Cannondale-Drapac led the chase, Landa, Caruso and Pirazzi carried a gap of 20 seconds into the final three kilometres. Pirazzi was particularly generous in his efforts, but there was little he could do to prevent their eventual recapture.

With the margin still hovering around ten seconds with a kilometre to go, Pirazzi attacked a lone, but it was a forlorn effort as the sizeable chasing group, which contained all of the overall favourites, closed in on the final approach to the finish.

After Pirazzi was engulfed by the chasers, Eduard Prades (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) led out the uphill sprint, but he was soon passed by Dennis’ powerful effort. Pinot did his best to respond, but had to settle for second behind the Australian.

Overnight leader Scarponi finished safely inside the front group, but was not in contention for a high placing and lost his jersey to Pinot. Scarponi lies second overall, in the same time as Pinot, while Thomas sits in third, three seconds back, with Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) a further six seconds down in fourth.

The day belonged to Dennis, however, who praised the organisers for removing the snowbound Brenner Pass. “It wasn’t a super, super hard climb but with the length and with the snow on top of the climb it would have changed the race a lot,” Dennis said. “I’m glad the organisers were smart and did the right thing and took it out.”

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

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