A few weeks after his overall victory at Settimana Coppi e Bartali, Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) confirmed that he will be one to watch at the Giro d’Italia by claiming an impressive solo win at the Giro dell’Appennino. Having bridged across to Eduard Prades (Caja Rural) on the penultimate climb, he dropped his companion on the final ascent to solo across the line with a 25-second advantage over a 7-rider chase group. Francesco Gavazzi (Androni) beat Mauro Finetto (Uniero) in the sprint for second.

Many were surprised when Gazprom-Rusvelo were given a wildcard for the Giro d’Italia and asked themselves whether the small Russian team would be competitive in the Italian grand tour. However, the team has done everything to prove themselves worthy of their invitation with a very strong leader in Sergey Firsanov.

The Russian proved his great climbing skills by riding to a solo win in the queen stage and claiming the overall victory at Settimana Coppi e Bartali. Since then, he has been training at altitude and today he again showed that he will be danger man in Italy next month when he won one of the hardest Italian one-day races, Giro dell’Appennino.

As it was the case in Coppi e Bartali, Firsanov proved to be in a class of his own on the climbs in the hilly race that had two climbs inside the final 25km. The many previous climbs had taken their toll and only around 30 riders were left in the peloton when they hit the penultimate ascent which was the steepest of the two challenges, 51 seconds behind lone leader Eduard Prades.

Lampre-Merida hit the front and they managed to reduce the gap and make the race so hard that Firsanov saw his chance. The Russian joined forces with Pierpaolo Ficara (Amore e Vita) and they caught Prades before Firsanov led the Spaniard and the Italian over the top.

The trio started the descent with a 15-second advantage over the peloton which was led by Lampre-Merida. Ficara was unable to keep up in the downhill section and he had been distanced by 18 seconds when they entered the final 15km. At this point, the 17-rider peloton was 30 seconds behind.

As soon as they hit the final climb, Firsanov made his next move. The Russian quickly dropped Prades and opened a 10-second advantage as he passed the 10km to go mark. In the peloton, Androni were pushing hard, dropping one of their leaders Egan Bernal in the process.

Firsanov crested the summit as the lone leader with a 32-second advantage over a 6-rider chase group with Francesco Gavazzi (Androni), Mauro Finetto (Uniero), Ficara, Antonio Santoro (Meridiana Kamen), Petilli and Hugh Carthy (Caja Rura). Matteo Busato (Southeast) made the junction on the descent.

However, it was too late for the chasers who failed to gain much ground on the lone Russian. Firsanov crossed the line in solo fashion to take the biggest one-day win of his career before Gavazzi beat Finetto in the sprint for second 25 seconds later.

With the Giro dell’Appennino done and dusted, the preparations for the Giro d’Italia will continue on Tuesday when the four-day Giro del Trentino starts.

A brutal course

The 77th edition of the Giro dell’Appennino was held on a 196.6km course that brought the riders from Novi Ligure in the Po Valley through the hilly terrain just north of the Mediterranean coast and the city of Genova to the coastal city of Chiavari just a few kilometres west of Genova. After a flat start,  the riders hit the bottom of the landmark climb of Passo della Bocchetta (9.9km, 4.5%, max. 12%) and then tackled Crocetta d’Orera (7.3km, 4.6%, max.9%) and Passo della Scoffera (9.9km, 1.8%, max.7%). After a long descent, they got to the difficult finale with Colle Caprile (7.9km, 4.9%, max. 7%), Ruta di Camogli (3.8km, 6.6%, max. 10%) and Le Grazie (4.1km, 4.2%, max. 8%) coming with 37.5km, 22km and 5.3km to go respectively. The final climb was followed by a fast descent that ended with 2.5km to go and then it was a flat run to the line.

Mateo Frankovic (Meridiana Kamen) and Matteo Spreafico (Kolls) were the non-starters when the peloton gathered under a cloudy sky in Novi Ligure. They got it odd to a very fast start with lots of attacks.

Lots of attacks

The first riders to get a small advantage were Miguel Benito (Caja Rural - RGA), Roman Kustadinchev (Gazprom-RusVelo) and Nicolas Marini (Nippo-Fantini) but they were quickly brought back and it was still all together at the 25km mark when Mykhaylo Kononenko (Kolss-BDC Team) went down in a crash. The attacking continued and the fast pace was too much for Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) and Paolo Rigo (Meridiana Kamen) who both abandoned early in the race.

The riders covered 47.6km during a very first hour during which no one managed to escape and this allowed Michele Viola (Meridiana Kamen) to win the first intermediate sprint. The aggressive racing didn’t stop here but Bardiani and Caja Rural were very active in keeping things together-

Two riders get clear

After 68km of racing, Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) and Vitaliy Buts (Kolss) finally managed to get a bigger advantage that quickly went out to 38 seconds while rain started to fall. Georg Loef (Christina Jewelry) took off in pursuit but there was still no room for rest in the peloton as Bardiani were chasing hard. When Buts won the second intermediate sprint, the gap was still only 48 seconds.

While Antonio Parrinello (D'Amico - Bottecchia) left the race, Loef was brought back at the end of a second hour during which 41.5km had been covered. Moments later, the front duo hit the Passo del Bochetta with an advantage of 42 seconds and it was Madrazo who led Buts over the top. In the peloton, Bardiani did a lot of damage with Luca Chirico who was third across the line.

A new break is formed

Many riders managed to get back on the descent where 70 riders gathered in the peloton. However, many riders also preferred to abandon in the wet and cold conditions.

The front duo were brought back before the third sprint which was won by Eduard Prades (Caja Rural). That set Michele Gazzara (Norda MG.K-Vis) and Pierpaolo Ficara (Amore & Vita-Selle SMP) up for an attack and while Nico Brüngger (Roth) took off in pursuit, it was the Androni teak that started to chase.

A strong trio

At the 113km mark, Brüngger made the junction to form a trio that was 40 seconds ahead of the peloton as they went up the second climb where Ficara beat Gazzara and Brüngger in the KOM sprint. The peloton crested the summit 1.30 later after a third hour during which 39.5km had been covered.

The peloton upped the pace and when Gazzara won the next intermediate sprint, the gap had been reduced to 58 seconds. It was back up to 1.16 at the bottom of the third climb but here another big selection was made in the peloton. Hence, the break was caught just moments after Ficara had led Gazzara and Brüngger over the top.

Prades takes off

A regrouping took place and it was an 80-rider field that had gathered at the 141km mark. Caja Rural took charge and set the pace as they hit Colle Caprile. They whittled the group down to around 30 riders before they got some assistance from Gazprom-Rusvelo and Androni. As they approached the top, they were 27 seconds ahead of three chasers while a bigger 40-rider group had gathered 1.02 ehind.

Ficara led Prades and Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida) over the top before Prades made a strong attack on the descent. With 25km to go, he had opened an advantage of 53 seconds and he was still 51 seconds ahead when he hit the penultimate climb where Firsanov made his race-winning move.