Sjoerd Bax (Alpecin-Deceuninck) pulled off an upset against all-star opposition to take victory in the Coppa Agostoni, leading the way home from a small group of top names in Lissone.
The Dutchman was the strongest in the final sprint jumping from behind Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to take the first win of his career.
He beat the veteran Spaniard into second place at the end of the 193km race, the pair finishing at the front of a group that also included Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan), Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost), and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).
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Bax counted among the quickest finishers in the group, and duly deployed his closing speed to full effect to grab victory, hitting out at 200 metres to go and passing 42-year-old Valverde inside the closing 100 metres.
New EF recruit Andrea Piccolo rounded out the top three while Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) sprinted to fourth place having earlier fought his way back after suffering a mechanical at 14km to go.
The winning move would go at 36km from the finish as the riders tackled the final hill of the day, Lissolo. There, Pozzovivo and Formolo put in a fierce dual attack which would – over the next 10km – draw out the host of big names that went on to contest the finish.
The run to the line was controlled by Valverde’s teammate Enric Mas, with a chase group already having given up on their chances. Valverde was first to launch his dash for the line, but in the end sprinted from too far as Bax, himself with a long sprint, passed him for the win.
How it unfolded
The break of the day went inside the opening 20km of the race, with Biesse-Carrera duo Michael Belleri and Anders Foldager getting out front along with Johan Meens (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-WB) and Diego Sevilla (Eolo-Kometa).
With over 170km and 13 major hills left to tackle, though, their task would be a big one, though the peloton did let their advantage grow over eight minutes over the early climbs. UAE Team Emirates and EF Education-EasyPost were among the team controlling the pace at the head of the peloton, with big names such as Formolo and Urán their leading candidates for victory.
Heading into the final 70km of the race, the break’s advantage had dissolved to under two minutes, while back in the peloton Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) gave it a long-range effort off the front. The Italian did make it up to the break 10km later, but the move wouldn’t last as the hills bits and the attacks started coming
Pozzovivo was among those on the offensive inside the final 50km, with Nibali and Formolo also up there at various points. There wouldn’t be a cohesive move until Pozzovivo and Formolo jumped on Lissone, though.
The Italians were quickly joined out front by Martin, Piccolo, and Enric Mas (Movistar), while Bax, Valverde, Nibali, and Urán completed the move soon afterwards as the riders tore down the descent.
That elite group quickly built a small lead on the peloton – 40 seconds at the 20km mark – while in between the groups Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) was among a handful of chasers. He wouldn’t make it across, though, and neither would Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), who joined Goossens in the chase along with Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
40 seconds would be as close as they got, with the gap only growing in the final 10km as the hopelessness of their plight became clear.
Out front, there were no major attacks in the finale, with Mas racing on in control of the group in service of Valverde. The veteran, who is retiring at the end of the season, wouldn’t take a final win, though, instead being pipped by Bax.
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