Colbrelli wins GP Bruno Beghelli

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Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) won the GP Bruno Beghelli, sprinting to victory from a seven-man escape group that broke away from the peloton in the closing kilometres of the race.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took second, while Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) rounded out the podium at the end of a frantic finale to the race, which saw near non-stop attacks on the closing laps of the Monteveglio circuit. 

Colbrelli's victory is not his first success at the race, having also sprinted to victory from a 37-man group in 2015, when he rode for Bardiani-CSF. He made it away with six others just 4km from the finish and, with the help of teammate Iván García Cortina, managed to hold off the Astana-led peloton to contest the victory.

With the group populated by non-sprinters such as Haig, 2018 race winner Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), a face-off between Valverde and Colbrelli always looked the most likely outcome, and so it proved, with the Italian getting the best of the Movistar man.

"The tactics in the final with Iván were perfect," said Colbrelli after the race. "We took control of the race because we were on the front from the start. I had to pay my teammates back with a nice win.

"It was a very tough race witha lot of attacks and counter-attacks. We decided to take the initiative and bring Iván García to the finish. That worked, and it was a victory for me and the whole team."

How it unfolded

The second part of a weekend double-header in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, the 24th GP Bruno Beghelli was a chance for those puncheurs who were beaten by Primož Roglič at Saturday's Giro dell'Emilia.

The 199km race, took in 60km of rolling roads before ten laps of a finishing circuit around the town of Monteveglio. The 1.5km, 5.3 per cent climb of Zappolino featured on the circuit, with the peloton having to tackle it ten times before the flat finish.

Early on, a three-man break got away, with Stepan Kuriyanov (Gazprom-RusVelo), Tommaso Fiaschi (Beltrami TSA-Hopplà-Petroli Firenze) and Emil Dima (Giotti Victoria-Palomar) making the move, an ultimately unthreatening breakaway.

The trio built up a large lead early on, with their advantage reached 11 minutes after 30km of racing. Once they reached the circuit, however, the gap started gradually falling as various teams – including Bahrain-Merida and UAE Team Emirates – worked on the front of the peloton.

With 75km to go on the fifth time up the climb, the leaders were reduced to two as Fiaschi couldn't keep up. The break's advantage dipped under a minute for the first time 20km later, and they didn't last much longer out front.

Forty kilometres from the finish, Kuriyanov and Dima were brought back, setting up the final three climbs for around 80 riders who remained in the peloton.

The situation didn't stay settled for long though, as seven riders jumped away from the peloton inside the 30km to go mark. George Bennett and Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma), Iván Sosa and Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton-Scott), Hugo Houle (Astana) got away on the climb and quickly built a gap of 15 seconds to the peloton.

The group were soon caught, as Movistar worked at the front of the peloton, and with 20km to race it was all back together. UAE Team Emirates led the way onto the final lap, as attacks still flew up front, with Powless and Moscon trying to get away once again.

On the final climb of the Zappolino, Martin jumped away, but couldn't make a move stick. He did, however, get away with a small group 4km from the line, and was quickly joined by Mollema, Haig, Valverde, Gaudu, García Cortina and Colbrelli out front.

Despite the best efforts of Astana chasing behind, the seven men would go on to contest the finish, with Cortina driving the group along on behalf of Colbrelli. In the end, it would come down to a sprint, and unsurprisingly it was a battle between Colbrelli and Valverde for the honours.

The Italian clinched it, easily outpacing the veteran Spaniard to grab his third win of the season.

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