Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) agai n proved that attacking pays off by riding to a deserved win in the queen stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. The Italian attacked from an elite group of climbers on the final descent and held them off to claim a solo victory, with Clemens Fankhauser (Tirol) taking second and Mauro Finetto (Uniero) winning the sprint for third. Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) finished safely in the chase group to take the overall win with a 3-second advantage over Finetto.

When he turned professional, Stefano Pirazzi quickly became a prominent figure in the peloton and built a reputation for launching repeated and often very strange attacks. They were always unsuccessful and many wondered what would happen if he gauged his efforts better.

However, the aggression made him stronger and paid off when he won the mountains jersey at the 2013 Giro d’Italia. One year later he finally claimed a first pro win and it even came on the biggest scene in the Italian grand tour.

Since then he has failed to double his tally but it has not been for a lack of trying. This week he has again been on the attack in the Settimana Coppi e Bartali but as usual he came up short when he went in the finale of the hilly second stage.

However, Pirazzi never gives up and today he tried again in the queen stage on the final day of the race. At first it looked futile as he was brought back on the final climb but when the relentless Italian went again on the descent, no one could respond and he rode to an impressive solo win.

After yesterday’s queen stage, everything was set to be decided in the queen stage which brought the riders over a hilly 163.6km course around the city of Pavullo. It was made up of three different circuits that all included three different climbs up to the finish. The final climb averaged 10% over 5km and summited just 8.8km from the flat run to the finish.

Josip Rumac, Maksym Averin (Synergy Baku), Jakub Mareczko, Manuel Belletti (Southeast) and GuillaumeBoivin (Cycling Academy) were all absent when the riders gathered for the start under a beautiful sunny sky. As expected, they started very fast with lots of attacks and the Italian national team were among the most attack.

Dries van Gestel (Topsport) hit the deck in the chaos before Simone Andreetta (Bardiani) and Filippo Ganna (Italy) got clear. Six riders tried to join the move but it was all brought back together.

Grega Bole (Nippo) and Marco Tizza (D’Amico) were next to give it a try and they were joined by Ivan Balykin (GM) AND Oleksandr Polivoda (Kolss). The quartet had an advantage of 30 seconds with 25km to go where one of the favourites Rodolfo Torres (Androni) punctured and points leader Mattia Gavazzi (Amore e Vita) abandoned.

The peloton finally surrendered and the gap had reached 2.09 at the bottom of the first climb after a first hour during which the riders had averaged 43.7km/h. The peloton took it easy and allowed the gap to grow to 2.50. Meanwhile, a crash ended the race for Baldi and Tommasini (D'Amico Bottecchia), Sagiv (Cycling Academy) and Jamberaj (SkyDive Dubai).

Unsurprisingly, it was Sky who wanted to make the race hard and they had reduced the gap to 1.41 when Bole led Balykin and Tizza over the top. As they went down the descent, they continued to ride hard and soon the gap dropped to a minute. However, when it was just 30 seconds and the catch seemed imminent, Sky stopped their work and suddenly the gap had gone ou to 1.10.

The gap stayed around that mark for a while but the effort was taking its toll on the leaders. Balykin and Polvoda were both dropped, leaving just Tizza and Bole to press on with an advantage of 1.20.

As they hit the next climb, Sky again dropped the hammer, reducing the gap to 38 seconds before sending Sebastian Henao off in an attack. He bridged the gap to the two leaders but just as the junction was made, the trio was caught.

Sky refused to give up and so tried to send Mikel Landa off in an attack. However, race leader Sergey Firsanov played with the muscles, bringing the Basque back and winning the KOM sprint ahead of Henao and David Lopez (Sky).

The group had been whittled down to 30 riders as they crossed the line to start their final lap of the circuit. Francesco Gavazzi (Androni) tried to anticipate the favouries but Sky gave him no room.

Landa tried again and he was quickly joined by Pirazzi. Torres and Lopez also bridged across and those four riders had built an advantage of 22 seconds when Pirazzi won the intermediate sprint.

The gap was still only 25 seconds with 30km to go but they managed to push it out to 39 seconds during the next 10km. At the bottom of the final climb, they had an advantage of 42 seconds.

Lopez had emptied himself for Landa and was the first to get dropped as Pirazzi upped the pace. He dropped Landa and Torres and increased the advantage to more than a minute.

Torres rejoined Pirazzi and Landa also managed to get back at a point when the gap was 42 seconds. In the peloton, Firsanov had kicked into action and only Gianni Moscon (Sky), Danilo Celano (Amore e Vita) and Egan Bernal (Androni) could match his pace.

Firsanov brought the trio back and crested the summit in first position followed by Landa, Bernal and Pirazzi. However, the latter refused to give up an dhe went again on the short descent after the climb.

With 4km to go, Pirazzi had an 18-second advantage over his chasers, with a second group following 22 seconds further back. More riders managed to rejoin the chasers, including second-placed Mauro Finetto (Uniero Willier).

The two groups merged behind Pirazzi but he had pushed his advantage out to 23 seconds. He still had 22 seconds at the flamme rouge and it was evident that he was not going to be brought back. He had plenty of time to celebrate the win before Clemens Fankhauser made a late attack to take second 16 seconds later. Finetto beat Moscon in the sprint for third.

Firsanov finished safely in the group and even though Finetto got some bonus seconds, he took the overall win with a 3-second advantage over the Italian, with Moscon 19 seconds adrift in third. Finetto won the points competition and Firsanov was also the best climber. Bernal was the best young rider and Team Sky the best team.

After this race, there is a big racing break in Italy. The next major event on the calendar is Giro dell’Appenninno on April 17,