Rémi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) took a solo win on the opening stage at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali.
The Frenchman crossed the finish line 32 seconds ahead of runner-up Mauro Schmid, giving Soudal-QuickStep a one-two on the podium, as Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling) finished third in Riccione.
Cavagna leads the overall classification by 36 seconds ahead of Schmid and 38 seconds on Pluimers heading into the second stage held from Riccione to Longiano on Wednesday.
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"Coming into the race, the plan was to ride every stage as a one-day race. My goal at the start of the day was to try something in the last ten kilometres, but I sensed an opportunity on that final climb and just followed my instinct. Once I got a gap, I tried to keep the power and went all-in for the victory, as this really motivated me," Cavagna said.
“Having had a good start to the season, I was confident at the start of the race, and this win will be a huge morale boost. I’m happy for myself, and I’m happy for Mauro too. We are good friends, and just the other day, we were talking about trying to do something nice this week, so it was special to be joined by him on the podium. We have our win, and now we’ll see what the next stages will bring."
The 161.8km race started and finished in Riccione, along the Adriatic Sea, and offered the field two loops, each with a decisive ascent. The first loop included two climbs of the Mondaino (3.4km at 7.6%), and the second loop with two climbs over the longer but more gradual Montescudo (6.6km at 3.7%).
After cresting the final ascent, the field descended the last 30km onto the finishing circuit into Riccione.
Alessandro Fancellu (Eolo-Kometa) was the first to attack, joined by Marco Murgano (Team Corratec), Didier Merchan (GW Shimano-Sidermec, Gabriele Petrelli (Team Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna) and Lennert Teugels (Bingoal WB) pushing their lead out to more than five minutes.
The gap between the breakaway and the peloton dropped dramatically on the second larger circuit, with Cavagna jumping across the gap just ahead of the first climb over the Montescudo.
The breakaway split apart on the climb, but Merchan managed to crest to pick up full points toward his lead in the mountain classification.
From there, Cavagna put pressure on at the front of the race, with Teugels only able to hang on until the second time over Montescudo.
Cavagna pushed out his lead a minute on the descent toward the finishing circuit. Even as teams Jumbo-Visma and EF Education-EasyPost, he still managed to hold off the field to take a solo win and the overall race lead in Riccione.
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