Giro della Toscana: Cummings wins opening stage

Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) won the opening stage of the 2017 Giro della Toscana, escaping the peloton alongside Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Egan Bernal (Androni-Sidermec), and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) in the final 25 kilometres before winning the four-up sprint.

Bernal crossed the line second, having followed Cummings down the left-hand side of the finishing straight, while Backaert took third place with Nibali on his wheel on the right-hand side.

Nibali's teammate Sonny Colbrelli led home the peloton for fifth place half a minute later.

For Cummings, there was vindication, perhaps, for turning down one of Great Britain's two time trial places at the recent World Championships in order to focus on the autumn racing in Italy. The Giro della Toscana, something of a home race for Cummings given he has lived in the Tuscany region for nearly a decade, offered two days of racing, though it was thought he might have to wait until the second day and its summit finish to try for a victory.

The opening stage in Pontedera - based on three laps of a 54km circuit and three laps of a 7.7km finishing circuit - was undulating but predicted to culminate in a bunch sprint, with Dimension Data bringing Mark Cavendish and Ryan Gibbons. 

An early breakaway duly formed, featuring Roy Goldstein (Israel Cycling Academy), Josu Zabala (Caja Rural), Maximilian Kuen (Tirol Cycling Team) and Michele Scartezzini (Sangemini-MG. Kvis), and they opened up a lead of 2:30 at the half-way point, though it would never increase thereafter. 

Goldstein was the first to be dropped, followed by Scartezzini, though a three-man counter attack from Fausto Masnada (Androni-Sidemec), Ilia Koshevoy (Wilier-Selle Italia) and Iuri Filosi (Nippo-Vini Fantini) meant there were five out front with just under 50km to go. 

They were caught shortly before the start of the finishing laps, and Backaert wasted no time in attacking, with Cummings, Nibali and Bernal responding swiftly. They took 20 seconds onto the finishing laps and while the peloton split into two behind, they increased that to 43 seconds by the next crossing of the finish line. 

UAE Team Emirates and Gazprom-Rusvelo were prominent in the chase, but they failed to eat into the gap as the quartet took the bell. With around half a minute going into the final few kilometres, they had to keep working together all the way to the finishing straight, whereupon Cummings delivered the telling kick. 

The race continues and concludes on Wednesday with a more hilly 165km stage that features a double ascent to Volterra in the finale. 

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