QuickStep win Settimana Coppi e Bartali finale with Cerny-Cavagna 1-2

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Josef Cerny won stage 5 of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali on Saturday in Cantagrillo, crossing the line in Cantagrillo with teammate Rémi Cavagna for a QuickStep-AlphaVinyl 1-2 on the final day of the race.

The Czech rider had separated from a breakaway group on the hilly stage with just under 20 kilometres to go to gain his first victory of the year.

Cavagna, meanwhile, broke away from Omer Goldstein (Israel-Premier Tech) with 3km to go, who grabbed the final spot on the podium in third. Julius Van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) finished fourth.

All four riders were part of the original 10-rider breakaway that formed in the opening kilometres of the 160km day. The trio of Cerny, Cavagna and Goldstein broke clear at the front with 50km to go, and at one point saw Goldstein, who started the day 6:58 behind Eddie Dunbar, in the virtual GC lead as they gained more than nine minutes on the peloton.

4:23 after Cerny and Cavagna crossed the line in celebration, Eddie Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) finished in what remained of the peloton to claim the general classification title, a debut win in his five-year pro career. It was also the first stage race victory for Ineos Grenadiers this season.

“I think we proved from the first two stages that we had the strongest team here. Yeah, Ineos are very experienced when we have the leader’s jersey and putting in the correct strategy, and we did that today. We kept it under control. It was just up to me and Ben then[on last lap] to control the GC guys. We only had two guys to watch in Simon Carr and Hirschi. We let the breakaway go and that took the stress away from bonus seconds," Dunbar told online outlet CyclingPro after the finish.  

Not to be outdone by QuickStep, Ineos went 1-2 on the GC podium with Ben Tulett securing second overall, nine seconds down from his teammate. Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) finished third overall, back 24 seconds.

“It’s been a super week for the team here, coming home with three jerseys - Tuesday’s win, Eddie winning the GC and myself coming in second. It’s been a very successful week for the team,” Tulett said at the finish press area. 

“Today we were presented with a hard finishing stage, so I think we controlled it pretty well and maintained our position in the GC. We achieved our objectives.”

Tulett, who won stage 3, was recognised as the best young rider, while his teammate Hayter claimed the points classification. The winner of the mountain classification was Andrea Garosio (Biesse-Carrera).

How it unfolded

Warm temperatures and blue skies saw the peloton embark for 160 kilometres with the departure from Casalguidi, the hometown of former champion Franco Ballerini.

After some flat racing, the stage gears up with a wide road back to Casalguidi and then to Cantagrillo, and at kilometre 102.3 of the race the first of a trio of finish circuits began, each 19.3km in length and the main feature being climbs over Mungherino, a cat 2 ascent on the first two passes.

It was a stair-step climb with 8.1 per cent average on the opening 2.9km and then final kick up for 1.6km at 6.5 per cent. The final time up the 'de Baco' climb took place 12km from the finish, more than half of which downhill, and made it a springboard for any breakaway.

Five kilometres into the final matchup a group of 10 riders formed: Frederik Wandahl (Bora-Hansgrohe), Fabio Van den Bossche (Alpecin-Fenix), David Martin (Eolo-Kometa), Giovanni Carboni (Italy National Team), Jacopo Cortese (Mg.K Vis-Color for Peace-VPM), Julius van der Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Omer Goldstein (Israel-Premier Tech), Tom Paquot and Johan Meens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), Josef Cerny and Rémi Cavagna (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl).

The group moved to an advantage of more than eight minutes after 75km of racing, and the time began to roll back on the climb to San Baronto, which was featured after a relatively flat section of the stage and the second phase gave way to climbing.

Cerny, Cavagna and Goldstein were the first from the lead group to attack, and with less than 50km remaining and pushed to an 18-second advantage for clear separation. The peloton, with race leader Dunbar protected by his Ineos Grenadiers teammates, were 8:15 back and riders began to splinter from the peloton.

As the leading trio grabbed the final KOM points across the Mungherino, their advantage from the peloton continued to grow to nine minutes with 30 kilometres to race. Cavanga and Cerny were more than 45 minutes in arrears of the race lead, but Goldstein started the day as the closest to GC leader Dunbar, 6:58 back, giving impetus to Ineos to get down to business headed to the final finish circuit.

Cerny gave it a go at the front just before 20km to go, Cavagna and Goldstein loosening the reins at the front, which allowed Van den Berg to join from the original breakaway group. While Cerny quickly gained 55 seconds to the trio, the peloton began to trim its margin to 7:50.

Van den Berg lost contact with Cavagna and Goldstein on the final climb and the pair drove on with 27 seconds between them and Cerny. With three kilometres to go, Cavagna moved to the front of the chase duo and dropped Goldstein. He would make it to his teammate with 500 metres to go and the pair rode across the line together.

Goldstein completed the stage in third, but lost any hopes of overtaking Dunbar as the Irishman finished 4:23 behind the stage winner in a bunch sprint, which was led by Natnael Tesfazion (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli).