Sivakov wins Tour of the Alps

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Pavel Sivakov (Team Sky) claimed final overall victory at the Tour of the Alps after limiting his losses to stage 5 winner Fausto Masnada (Androni-Sidermec) and withstanding another volley of attacks from Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) over the summit of the race’s final climb of San Genesio.

Already a stage winner earlier in the week, Masnada was part of the day’s early break and he spent much of the day as the virtual overall leader as their advantage reached a maximum of almost seven minutes. The Italian had begun the day 3:37 off the cyclamen jersey, and he posed a real threat to the Sivakov’s overall lead on a rain-soaked final stage.

Masdanda went clear with Carlos Quintero (Manzana Postobon) on the climb to San Genesio and he was still in the virtual overall lead at the summit, where their advantage over the Sivakov group stood at almost five minutes.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) performed the bulk of the pace-making in the Sivakov group on the climb of San Genesio, but he had to hand over to Tao Geoghegan Hart on the steep uncategorised ramps that followed the summit.

Nibali availed of Froome’s absence to launch no fewer than three accelerations, but on each occasion, Sivakov clung grimly to his wheel, and the Sicilian relented ahead of the long descent to Bolzano. By then, Masnada’s advantage was down to 3:40, and Geoghegan Hart’s work on the descent helped to ensure that the Italian would not deny Sivakov overall victory.

With 1.5km to go, Masnada clipped away from his breakaway companion Quintero to claim the stage honours by seven seconds. Sivakov came home alongside Nibali and Geoghegan Hart, 2:14 down on Masnada, to secure final Tour of the Alps victory.

“Today was a really tricky race with a really strong breakaway but my team was just amazing today. They did it perfectly,” said Sivakov.

“At one moment I was a bit stressed but I knew that the guys would just do everything. At the end they were amazing. This victory is our victory, and we’ve been consistent all week with Tao wining two stages. Today we managed the race perfectly.”

Geoghegan Hart, winner of two stages during the week, finished the race in second place overall, 27 seconds down, while Nibali managed to move ahead of crash victim Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) into third overall.

How it unfolded

Menacing dark clouds loomed over Caldaro ahead of the final leg of the Tour of the Alps, and the heavens duly opened shortly into the 147km stage, which brought the gruppo across the climbs of Collalbo and San Genesio to the finish in Bolzano.

The day’s early break took shape after a very brisk start, with a group of 18 riders going clear inside the opening 20km. Masnada gleefully accepted the leeway that he was granted, forging ahead in the company of Andrea Garosio (Bahrain-Merida), Dario Cataldo, Nikita Stalnov (Astana), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale), Elie Gesbert, Amael Moinard (Arkea-Samsic), Ivan Santaromita (Nippo-Vino Fantini), Carlos Quintero (Manzana-Postobon), Alvaro Cuadros (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Francesco Romano (Bardiani-CSF), Mikel Bizkarra, Fernando Barcelò, Sergio Samitier (Euskadi-Murias), Simone Velasco, Edoardo Zardini (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia), Roland Thalmann (Team Voralberg) and Tobias Bayer (Tirol-KTM).

By the base of the climb to Collalbo, the escapees had three minutes in hand on the peloton, and that gap increased amid driving rain on the ascent, with the margin reaching 6:40 by the summit. Masnada, who started the day just 3:37 off Sivakov’s lead, was the virtual overall leader, but there was still little urgency in Sky’s pursuit as the gap yawned out beyond seven minutes over the other side of the climb.

A crash in the peloton saw three Bora-Hansgrohe riders come down on the descent of Collalbo, including Rafal Majka, and though the Pole later rejoined the Sivakov group, he would suffer the effects of his fall later in the day, losing contact in the final hour and ultimately slipping to 6th overall.

The leading group began to fragment on the final ascent of San Genesio, with Masnada jumping clear in the company of Carlos Quintero. Behind, Chris Froome took over at the head of the peloton on behalf of Sivakov, and while his pace-making whittled the cyclamen jersey group down to its bare bones, Masnada and Quintero still held a lead of five minutes over the favourites as they crested the summit of San Genesio with 34km still to race.

The climbing didn’t finish there, however, as the route took in a series of steep ramps on the Altopiano del Salto before the final drop into Bolzano, and this was where Masnada’s hopes of snatching overall victory were eventually extinguished.

A tired Froome swung over with 32km to go, leaving Geoghegan Hart to set the tempo in the Sivakov group. Mindful that this was his last chance to discommode the Russian, Nibali launched no fewer than three stinging accelerations, but Sivakov responded each time. Geoghegan Hart rejoined them ahead of the descent, and as the Sivakov group swelled in size once again, the Briton’s pace-making helped to bring Masnada’s lead back under control.

Up front, Quintero suffered mechanical mishap on the descent but managed to get back on terms with Masnada, although with overall victory now out of reach, the Italian was switching his attention to snaring his second stage win of the week. Masnada duly attacked Quintero with a little under 1500 metres to go and held on to claim the honours by 7 seconds.

Simone Velasco and Cataldo led the remnants of the break across the line at 1:31, while Sivakov, Nibali and Geoghegan Hart all came home together at 2:14, ensuring that the young Sky pairing finished on the top two steps of the podium.

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