European champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) put in a dominant performance in the frozen circuit of Val di Sole to take his fifth win of the season.
The Belgian was among the leaders from the very start of the hour-long race and pushed on solo at the midpoint of eight laps in the snow and ice of northern Italy.
He took the victory, his second World Cup triumph of the season, by 39 from Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who had been the last man to stay with Vanthourenhout until the fourth lap.
The battle for second was a fiercer one, however, with Swiss champion Kevin Kuhn (Tormans) and World Cup leader Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) battling it out lap after lap a handful of seconds behind Vandeputte.
In the end, it was Kuhn who prevailed to solo to third and secure his career-best World Cup result. He finished 42 down, two seconds up on Sweeck.
"It was really good today so I'm happy with that victory. It was a pleasure to ride for the Italian people," Vanthourenhout said after the race. "I tried but I think everyone makes a lot of mistakes. It was very hard. I did my own thing.
"I think Niels had a flat tyre. My own pace was very high, I think, and I tried to hold that pace high the whole race. For me, it was enough for the victory.
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"It was very tricky but in such races, I do very well."
Elsewhere, it was a rare off-day for Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who started the day on the second row and never got to the front of the action. He lost time to Vanthourenhout and the leaders on each lap and eventually finished in an unfamiliar eighth place at 3:14 down.
Former European champion Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) also suffered in the snow, crashing out of the group behind Vanthourenhout on the fifth lap of the race. He came down hard and was clearly in pain before eventually being stretchered off, much like his teammate Fem van Empel in the women's race.
Iserbyt and Sweeck had been part of the first chase group on the opening lap before coming across to Vanthourenhout, Vandeputte and Kuhn on the second lap as Van der Poel looked to be making slow progress 16 seconds back.
On the next lap, Vanthourenhour and Vandeputte showed their strength to make it two out front, putting some time between them and the chasers. It would end up proving to be the decisive move of the race, with Vanthourenhout managing to go solo before the midway point.
He had put 12 seconds into Vandeputte by then, with a rear wheel puncture holding up the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, while the chasers raced on at 30 seconds down. That would be as close as anyone else got to Vanthourenhout, though, with the 29-year-old having the measure of the field in the icy conditions.
With his victory only looked more assured as the laps passed by, the attention turned to the podium battle. Vandeputte didn't come under much pressure, though, but a few mistakes late on saw him finish just a handful of seconds up on Kuhn.
The Swiss rider and Sweeck enjoyed a spirited battle over the closing laps, but he eventually prevailed on the penultimate lap of the race, pushing on to open a gap and secure the final podium spot.
The final result brings Vanthourenhout up into second overall in the World Cup standings. With 265 points now lies 13 points down on series leader Sweeck, having leapfrogged Iserbyt, who remains on 249 points.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor before being hired full-time. Her favourite races include the Paris-Roubaix, Tour de France Femmes, Tro-Bro Léon, and cycling's fourth Grand Tour, the Volta a Portugal.
