Niccolò Bonifazio (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) took his first win in his new colours, proving the quickest in the long sprint that concluded stage 2 of the Giro di Sicilia in Vittoria.
Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa) sprinted to second place for the second stage in a row, while Blake Quick (Jayco-AlUla) rounded out the podium close behind.
The sprint for the line was launched by Jayco lead-out Campbell Stewart at 300 metres to go with Alvaro Hodeg (UAE Team Emirates) alongside him jumping soon after. A place ahead in the line, Bonifazio looked around and went at 250 to go.
Albanese, clad in the purple points jersey, was second in line behind Hodeg's lead-out Ivo Oliveira, but he couldn't match Bonifazio's initial acceleration.
Hodeg and Quick, who couldn't get into clear air until the 150-metre mark, were further back and never looked like making up ground, with Quick battling past Filippo Fiorelli (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) into third inside the final 50 metres.
Up front, Bonifazio sped to the line untroubled, having led from the front and never looking like he might lose the stage after he began his sprint.
"I started the season, and I was working a lot in the winter. I had a good shape in the Ruta del Sol. After, I continued but I didn't have my 'occasion'. I waited until today and today I started the race motivated, and I did a perfect job," Bonifazio said after the stage.
"We are here with two young riders and three guys for the climbs, so I'm a little bit alone. I stayed with the team in the beginning of the stage but in the final, I go alone. I found a good position and after I had good legs in the sprint – I started early because I didn't want to be close. And, OK, I pushed to the finish, and I won the race. I'm so happy.
"I won last year before the Tour de France and I didn't race a lot at the end of the year, but I worked a lot at the beginning of the season. I want to see now what happens."
The duo of star sprinters present at the race, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) and Elia Viviani (Italy National Team), finished down the order in 11th and 19th places respectively, having been well out of contention in the final kilometre.
The day had always looked likely to host a sprint finish after the uphill finish of stage 1, though the 2,515 metres of climbing meant it wasn't an easy, flat day out on the bike. The likelihood of a sprint didn't prevent a group of nine riders from breaking away inside the opening 30km of the 193km stage.
Riccardo Cucarelli, Michael Belleri (Biesse-Carrera), Andrés Mancipe (GW Shimano-Sidermec), Luca Cretti (Colpack Ballan), Gabriele Petrelli (Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna), Giannicola Di Nella (D'Amico-UM Tools), Tommaso Bergagna (General Store-Essegibi-F.Li Curia), Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk), and Ben Granger (Mg.K Vis-Colors for Peace) all made the move.
The advantage never stretched out to more than three minutes on the road south from Canicattì, indicating they were never in with much of a chance at glory. Belleri did, however, beat Planet to the day's only classified climb at Mazzarino, while Bargagna took the points at the intermediate sprint at Barrafranca.
Back in the peloton it was Astana and UAE doing much of the work, with Cavendish and the safety of overall leader Finn Fisher-Black in mind for each team.
As the riders raced into the final 40km and the peloton closed to under two minutes, the moves started flying in the breakaway. Bergagna was the first to drop, but much of the group stuck together to fight on towards the final 10km.
A hill 11km from the line saw Belleri, Mancipe, Cretti, and Petrelli break clear and battle on a handful of seconds up on the peloton. However, this just delayed the inevitable, and the quartet were eventually swept up at 7.7km from the finish.
From then on it was all about the final sprint, with the likes of Tudor, Astana, UAE, Bahrain, Jayco, Corratec, and Bingoal WB all contributing to the pacemaking on the run to the line.
Eolo-Kometa and Jayco-AluLa led the way into the final kilometre before Oliveira took over to lead the way towards a disorganised, long dash for the win. In the end, it was Bonifazio who came through to claim the 21st victory of his career and his team's ninth of the season.
