As forecasted the 99th edition of the Gran Piemonte was a rain-soaked and cold affair, making for a miserable 185 kilometers.

When a 13-rider escape group formed soon after the start Fabio Felline and Marco Coledan jumped into the mix. Coledan pulled hard in the escape group, allowing Felline to save his energy for the latter part of the race.

Coledan lost contact on the first of two climbs in the predominantly flat parcours, and after the second with some 40 kilometers to go the breakaway was crafted to seven strong leaders, including Felline.

“It was full, full rain all day. When the breakaway of 13 went away with Felline and Coledan the maximum gap was two minutes,” explained director Adriano Baffi. “Behind Katusha, Tinkoff, Movistar, Bardiani and then Lampre pulled all day.”

Sensing the catch was imminent, Felline made his move 22 kilometers from the end.

Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-Quick Step) set off in pursuit, finally making contact to Felline with 16 kilometers to go while the rest of the breakaway was absorbed by the chasing peloton.

The trio held less than a half a minute’s lead, but the peloton slowly clawed its way back. With 10kms to go the gap narrowed to 16 seconds. The dogged determination of the three leaders kept the peloton at bay until less than seven kilometers remained.

Baffi continued: “Giacomo was not feeling good today. His legs were not so bad, but he had problems with his respiration, he couldn’t get air, so he stopped.

"Coledan pulled hard and then dropped on the climb and Fabio tried for the victory – in the end he was five or six kilometers short.

“It was a really hard race and there were only 25 riders left at the end. The team rode well under these terrible conditions and it was unlucky that Giacomo was not in the best health and not feeling well. And Fabio tried, he gave everything, but in the end he had no possibility to win.”

When Felline, Roosen, and Brambilla were caught, Jan Bakelants (AG2R-La Mondiale) counter-attacked and held off the peloton to pilfer the victory from the sprinters. Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quick Step) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF) sprinted to the minor podium places, taking second and third respectively.