Jan Bakelants wins Gran Piemonte

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Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) took his first victory of the season on Friday in the Gran Piemonte as he pulled off a late coup to deprive the sprinters.

The final remnants of the day's breakaway, out since the early kilometres, were caught with 7km to go and while most teams started to think about the sprint, Bakelants caught them off guard. On the gentle descent to the line the 29-year-old managed to open up a gap and hold it, with Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF) taking second and third from the bunch.

The Gran Piemonte was back on the calendar after a two-year absence, celebrating its 99th edition and returning to the so-called trittico di autunno, in which it is bookended by yesterday's Milano-Torino and Sunday's Il Lombardia.

The race is less hilly than the other late-season Italian one-day races and was always likely to be a less selective affair, even if a number of riders did climb off their bikes in the cold and wet conditions.

The peloton did split in two on the first of two proper climbs – the Alice Superiore with 70km to go – but was back together by the second – the Prascorsano with 40km to go. By that point the breakaway, which never built a substantial lead of more than 2:30, was being inexorably reeled in. Despite some late flurries of defiance it came back together late on, whereupon Bakelants struck out for glory.

How it unfolded

The break of the day was formed early on and comprised: Roman Campistrous (AG2R), Serghei Tvetcov (Androni-Sidermec), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18), Gianluca Brambilla, Michal Golas (Etixx-Quick Step), Lawrance Warbasse (IAM), Chun Kai Feng (Lampre-Merida), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Alan Marangoni (Cannondale-Garmin), Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky), Fabio Felline and Marco Coledan (Trek Factory).

They were never given free rein by the bunch and their lead fluctutated either side of the two-minute mark for much of the race. Back in the bunch Movistar were setting a fierce pace on the run-up to the Alice Superiore climb and once on the climb they split the bunch.

Over the top of the climb the break split, leaving Campistrous, Tvetcov, Brambilla, Warbasse, Geoghegan Hart, and Felline, with Marangoni, Golas, Roosen and Benedetti getting back on on the descent.

The peloton regrouped with 50km to go and under Movistar's pacemaking the gap to the leaders fell to below a minute on the Prascorsano climb. When Golas crashed with 30km to go there was disruption in the break and many fell away.

Felline, Roosen and Brambilla refused to give up and did a good job of holding off the Lampre-Merida-led bunch all the way to 7km. That's where the catch was made but barely a kilometre later Bakelants was up the road and wouldn't be seen again.

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