Bernal wins Gran Piemonte

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Egan Bernal claimed the first one-day race victory of his career at Gran Piemonte on Thursday, triumphing atop Oropa to cap a devastating Team Ineos performance in a revamped edition of the Italian Classic.

Previously a moderately hilly affair, won last year by Sonny Colbrelli, the Gran Piemonte became a true climber's race in 2019, with the Nelva climb preceding the summit finish at the Oropa Sanctuary – scene of a memorable Marco Pantani comeback at the 1999 Giro d'Italia.

Bernal pointed to the Team Ineos logo on his jersey as he crossed the line alone on the cobbles in front of the Sanctuary, and he had every reason to. Having controlled the peloton for much of the day, the British team performed what was effectively a five-man lead-out all the way up the 11.8-kilometre final climb.

Their dominance was underscored by the fact that Ivan Sosa, the last rider in that train, took second place, sprinting clear of a four-man chase group several seconds behind his fellow Colombian. Sosa had previously reduced the lead group to just seven riders and his final turn was such that he and Bernal suddenly found themselves alone at the head of the race with just under 2km to go. At that point, Bernal opened the taps and never looked back.

Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) claimed the final spot on the podium ahead of the two other members of the chase group, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates).

"I'm really happy because it's my first victory in Italy. I've done a lot of races here and Piemonte is the region I lived in for two years, so it's really special to win here," Bernal said.

"I was feeling really good during the race and asked the guys to do a good tempo on the climb. Sosa did a really good job. I won, but Sosa was almost stronger than me. In the end, when I saw we were away as two, I tried to go full gas to the finish, because you never know, sometimes people can come back. Sosa did a really really good job and showed he's one of the strongest climbers in the peloton."

How it unfolded

The Gran Piemonte underwent something of a makeover for its 2019 edition, leaning away from the finisseurs and sprinters and towards the climbers. The first 150km of the 183km route were flat, but there were two major climbs in the finale. First up was the climb at Nelva, a 13km climb whose average gradient of at 3.2 per cent is mitigated by a 2km descent just over half-way up. A 10km descent then led to the foot of Oropa, an 11.8km climb with an average gradient of 6.2 per cent. Best known for Pantani's victory in 1999, it was more recently used in the 2017, when Tom Dumoulin claimed victory en route to the overall title.

The race started out with an early breakaway, containing: Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis), Carlos Barbero (Movistar), Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic), Francesco Romano (Bardiani-CSF), Mattia Bais (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Enrico Battaglin (Katusha-Alpecin).

They built a lead of five minutes in the first hour but that steadily dropped as the race made its way north west. Well before the climbing, a number of big names were out of the race, Richard Carapaz (Movistar), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Davide Formolo and Rafał Majka (both Bora-Hansgrohe), all taking advantage of the feed zone at KM100 to climb off and rest up for Saturday's Il Lombardia.

Ineos, with some help from UAE, set the pace in the peloton as they approached the finale, and they were less than a minute behind the break as they hit the Nelva climb. As soon as the road went uphill, the break shattered, leaving Rossetto and Bais out front. Rossetto soon went it alone, but was caught by the Ineos-led bunch on the top section of the climb.

From there, almost no one apart from Ineos spent any time at the front. After the descent, Jonathan Castroviejo led the way onto the final climb at the head of a line of six riders. The opening five kilometres were gentle, averaging little over 4 per cent, and the time trial specialist strung out the bunch. When the gradient ramped up on a much steeper middle section, Salvatore Puccio took over. The only blemish on the Ineos report card was the fact Gianni Moscon was dropped at this point and was unable to offer up a turn.

Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale) threw in an attack with 4.5km to go. Puccio couldn't chase it so he moved aside for Diego Rosa, who dragged Frank back with 4km to go, at which point 25 riders remained in contention. After a big out-of-the-saddle turn, Rosa moved aside with 3.5km to go, leaving Sosa in front of Bernal. He did immediate damage, although the formation of a seven-rider selection was partly due to an Astana rider losing the wheel in front of him. Sosa went about riding those that remained off the wheel, Davide Villella (Astana) being the first to lose contact, followed by Frank, and then Martin. With 1,800m to go, Buchmann fell away, and Peters lost the wheel, too, leaving the Ineos duo alone out front. Seeing this, Bernal quickly decided to take advantage and accelerate away. He opened up a lead of 16 seconds as Sosa settled into a chase group with Peters, Buchmann and, eventually, Martin.

As Bernal sat up and celebrated in the shadow of the Oropa Sanctuary, Sosa sprinted to second place to cap one of the most one-sided races in recent memory.

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