Astana Pro Team have won the Giro d’Italia Virtual after taking 4th place in the final stage, which was won by the Italian national team duo of Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan. In the women’s event, the Pink Race, Astana won the final stage, but overall victory fell to Trek-Segafredo.
Saturday’s seventh and final stage saw participants take to the their turbo trainers to tackle a simulated version of the final leg of the real Giro, a 15.7km time trial from Cernusco sul Naviglio to Milan’s Piazza del Duomo.
It was hardly surprising that Ganna, the world record holder in the individual pursuit, proved the quickest individual on the course, as he clocked up a time of 22:30.
When his time was added to that of Milan, it gave the Italian national team a combined total of 47:50, which sufficed to win the stage by 15 seconds from the Vini Zabù-KTM pairing of Simone Bevilacqua and Veljko Stojnić, while the Bahrain-McLaren of Domen Novak and Grega Bole placed third a further 5 seconds back.
Astana Pro Team carried a commanding overall lead into the stage, and their final pairing of Davide Martinelli and Manuele Boaro completed the day to secure final victory, some 49:57 clear of Jumbo-Visma, who were represented by Primoz Roglic and Tobias Foss on the last day. Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec took third overall, more than an hour down on Astana.
In the Pink Race, Katia Ragusa’s 24:40 was the best individual time. Thanks to the efforts of Ragusa and Liliana Moreno, Astana claimed stage victory, 44 seconds up on the Trek-Segafredo pairing of Ellen van Dijk and Letizia Paternoster.
That performance from Van Dijk and Paternoster sealed final overall victory for Trek-Segafredo, who finished the event 24:07 clear of the Italian national team, while Astana had to settle for third overall in the Pink Race, just over an hour down on the winners.
The 2020 Giro d'Italia had been due to start on Saturday in Budapest, but the race was postponed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Corsa Rosa has been rescheduled for October 3-25, with the Grande Partenza set to be moved to a location in southern Italy.
