Breakthrough win for Fraile in the Apennines

Omar Fraile (Caja Rural) took the first win as a professional when he emerged as the fastest from an 8-rider group at the end of the hard Italian one-day race Giro dell’Appennino. The Spaniard held of Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) and Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini) after an aggressive finale where several riders had tried to make solo moves.

In the first part of his professional career, Omar Fraile has been known as one of the most aggressive riders in the peloton. However, his many escapes have never paid off and he started the 2015 season with no wins on his palmares.

In recent weeks, the Spaniard has proved that he has ridden himself into great condition and he put in a great performance at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco where he won the mountains jersey. This made him one to watch in today’s hilly one-day race Giro dell’Appennino whose undulating terrain suited him perfectly.

Fraile showed his intentions when he followed Damiano Cunego who attacked on the Passo della Borchetta, the hardest climb of the day. The duo were joined by Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani) to form a strong group that quickly distanced the peloton.

However, Fraile found himself up against two high quality climbers and he was unable to follow the pair on the upper slopes. At the top, he had been distanced by 16 seconds and for a long time he worked alone in an attempt to get back.

Behind, the hard climb had done a lot of damage and it was a five-rider group with Stefano Pirazzi, Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani), Franco Pellizotti (Androni), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) and Simone Petilli (Uniero Willier) that had taken off in pursuit from the peloton which had been whittled down to just around 15 riders. The chasers managed to catch Fraile to form a sextet that found themselves around 1 minute behind with less than 20km to go while the peloton was at around 1.40.

Being up against a faster finishers and with two riders in the chase group, Zardini refused to work with Cunego after they had crested the summit of the final climb and this allowed the chasers to catch the leaders. Hence, an 8-rider front group formed and they managed to keep the peloton at bay.

Many riders were keen to avoid a sprint finish and Zardini, Pirazzi, Cunego and Txurruka all tried to attack. However, no one managed to get clear and so the octet decided the race in a sprint. Here Fraile emerged as the fastest, holding off Pirazzi and Cunego to take a breakthrough win before Sergey Shilov (Lokoshinkx) led the peloton home 1.09 too late.

With Giro dell’Appennino done and dusted, the Italian racing scene takes a break before the biggest event. In less than two weeks, some of the riders from today’s race will be back in action at the Giro d’Italia which kicks off on May 9.

A hilly course

The 2015 Giro dell’Appennino was held on a 191.7km courset hat brought the riders from Novi Ligure to Genova. After a flat first half, the riders reached the very hilly second part with no less than 7 categorized climbs. The biggest challenge was the Passo Della Bochetta whose summit was located 49.3m from the finish. Later the riders would go up the smaller Passo della Castagnola and Passo dei Giovi which summited 14.4km from the finish. From there it was a fast descend and a short flat stretch to the finish in Genova.

The riders had pleasant weather when they gathered for the start and they got it off to a fast opening phase. A rider from the Italian national team was the first to get and advantage and when he was brought back, the next attacks allowed Patrick Schultus (Tirol) to open a small gap.

The break is formed

When he was brought back, 9 riders managed to get clear and as the peloton slowed down, they managed to get a big advantage. At the 25km mark, Marco Frapporti (Androni), Giogio Cecchinel (Southeast), Gianni Moscon (Italy), Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural), Simone Andreeta (Bardiani), Alexander Rybakov (Rusvelo), Giovanni Pedretti (Uniero), Dmitry Sokolov (Lokosphinx) and Stefan Praxmarer (Tirol) were 1.25 ahead.

Madrazo won the intermediate sprint at a point when the gap was 2.27 but as Colombia and Nippo-Vini Fantini had missed the move, they started to chase. Nonetheless, the gap continued to grow and at the 50km mark, it was 4 minutes.

Torres crashes

Colombia and Nippo accelerated hard and when Madrazo won the next sprint, the gap was only 2.45. As they crested the summit of the first climb, it was again slightly more than 3 minutes.

On the descent, one of the favourites Rodolfo Torres (Colombia) crashed with his teammate Walter Pedrazi and Manaku Ishibashi (Nippo) and the former left the race in an ambulance. Meanwhile, the escapees pressed on and when Madrazo led them over the top of the next climb, the gap was 3.25.

The gap comes down

Praxmayer briefly got a small gap but he was quickly brought back and the escapees passed the 100km mark with an advantage of 3.25. However, the peloton was now again accelerating under the impetus of Nippo-Vini Fantini and when Madrazo led the group over the top of the next climb, it was only 2.10.

At the top of the next climb, Praxmarer was suffering whil Madrazo and Cecchinel led the groupover the top. Nippo continued to chase, bringing the gap down to 1.40 as they sped down the descent.

The break splits up

Praxmarer lost contact with his companions but he managed to rejoin the leaders before they hit the Passo della Boccheta with an advantage of 1.50. Here the peloton and the break started to splinter.

Madrazo, Sokolov and Praxmarer turned out to be the strongest as they got a gap over nearest chasers Andreeta, Frapporti, Cecchinel and Rybakov. Meanwhile, Moscon and Pedretti dropped off and were caught by the peloton.

Lots of attacks

At the 144km mark, Madrazo and Sokolov had distanced Praxmarer and were not leading Andreeta and Frapporti by 15 seconds while Cecchinel and Rybakov were at 22 seconds, Praxmarer at 30 seconds and the peloton at 48 seconds. The two front duos merged when Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini) attacked and with Fraile as company, he joined the leader.

Sokolov and Andreeta were dropped while Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani) made it across to Frapporti, Madrazo, Cunego and Fraile. Unsurprisingly, Frapporti and Madrazo dropped off while Sokolov joined forces with Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani), Franco Pellizotti (Androni), Simone Stortoni (Androni) and Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) who had attacked.

A front duo is formed

The situation was constantly changing and after a reshuffling, Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani), Bongiorno, Pellizotti, Frapporti, Txurruka and Madrazo were the nearest chasers while Stortoni, Faburro, Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural), Francesco Reda (Idea) and Sokolov followed a little further back. Frapporti and Marazo were dropped by the first chase group while Simone Petilli (Uniero) joined forces with Carthy in a next group.

Cunego and Zardini distanced Fraile who were 16 seconds behind at the top. At this point, the chasers had been joined by Petilli 58 seconds behind while Alessio Taliani (Androni), Gaburo and Carthy were next. The peloton was at 1.32.

Fraile is caught

Pirazzi and Bongiorni were slightly distanced on the descent but the chase group came back together. Meanwhile, Zardini was the first to crest the summit of the next climb where Fraile had been distanced by 41 seconds. The Pellizotti group was losing ground and was 1.50 ebhind.

Pirazzi briefly attacked out of the chase group but as they caught Fraile, he rejoined them. They had now reduced their gap to 0.58 while Taliani was alone at 1.40.

The chasers catch the leaders

Zardini was the first at the top of the final climb while the chasers were at 45 seconds and the peloton at 1.38. However, Zardini now refused to work with Cunego and that meant that the chasers caught the leaders with 10km to go.

The front octet was only 50 seconds ahead of the peloton but they failed to get much closer. Meanwhile, Cunego and Txurruka tried to attack and when they were brought back, Pirazzi gave it a go. Zardini, Pirazzi and Cunego all tried solo moves but in the end Fraile won the sprint.