Colbrelli wins Gran Piemonte

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) won a rain-soaked edition of Gran Piemonte on Thursday, taking a well-executed victory on a messy run to the line in Stupinigi.

The Italian, who won the Coppa Bernocchi last month along with finishing runner-up at the GP de Montreal and Coppa Sabatini, was the favourite for the victory on the largely flat course, though the weather conditions would always complicate matters in a race that has seen late attackers spring surprises on the peloton in recent years.

Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal) rolled the dice in the final couple of kilometres and although he didn’t succeed in holding onto his advantage, the bunch duly split on the approach to the line. Colbrelli was alert and found himself up front with a teammate and, sensing hesitation from those around him, opened up his sprint from range.

He quickly opened up a big gap and the victory was in the bag, with Florian Senechal (Quick-Step Floors) finishing second and Davide Ballerini (Androni) taking the final spot on the podium.

"With 350m to go, I decided to go for it. That's my style, and I just said, 'if they pass me, they pass me'," said Colbrelli.

"I'm very happy to end this season with a victory. It was very dangerous, there were crashes, but when it's wet, it’s always like that."

The long-running Italian one-day race was back in its usual slot this year after being packaged up as part of the Italian national championships last year on an altogether hillier affair won by Fabio Aru.

Despite the flatter nature of the parcours, the likes of Jan Bakelants and Rigoberto Uran had upset the sprinters in the previous couple of editions. Even when it has ended in a sprint, it has rarely been clean, full-peloton affair. The weather only added to the list of complications as the rain fell all day in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, leaving the peloton heavily reduced as it approached the finish.

A breakaway formed in the opening kilometres, with Joey Rosskopf (BMC Racing Team), Mikkel Frolich Honoré (Quick-Step Floors), Matteo Sobrero (Dimension Data) and Filippo Ganna (UAE Team Emirates) opening up a lead of a few minutes before being kept on a relatively tight leash.

That was cause for Lotto Soudal to execute what was almost a full-team attack as Keukeleire, Tim Wellens, Tiesj Benoot, Thomas De Gendt, and Maxime Monfort all went clear from the bunch. With Cyrus Monk (EF-Drapac) and Nikita Stalnov (Astana) tagging on, they made their way across to the breakway to make it a group of 11 out front.

At that point, the gap was small, and there was an inevitable reaction in the peloton, and the race all came back together with 68km to go. Matti Breschel (EF-Drapac) and Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) went on the move and were later joined by Davide Ballerini (Androni Sidermec) and Andriy Grivko (Astana). When Ballereini and Grivko crashed, and Marcato was held up, Breschel was forced into a solo effort.

With just under 50km to go, he had company once more as Grivko, refusing to give in, set off from the peloton once more. The partnership only lasted 8km, though, as Breschel couldn’t hold the pace and Grivko was left alone.

The Ukranian put up a brave fight and had a lead of a minute at one point, but the game was up with 13km to go as Bahrain-Merida and Bardiani-CSF took control of the peloton.

Julien Vermote (Dimension Data) had a tentative dig off the front in the closing kilometres but Keukeleire sparked real danger with his attack 1.5km out. Colbrelli was up near the front and had a teammate to help shut the gap, and a group of 10 entered the final 500 metres to contest the victory.

Colbrelli could have waited, but he sensed an opportunity and boldly went from range. Senechal was looking over his other shoulder at the time and was left with the bitter taste of regret. "I'm happy," he said, "but I could have won that."

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