Simone Ponzi got his career as a Yellow Fluo rider off to the perfect start when he won the first race of the Italian season, the GP Costa degli Etruschi. Having made it into a lead group on the final passage of the Torre Segalari climb, he attacked on the flat run-in to the finish to take a solo victory while his teammate Mauro Finetto made it a 1-2 for the team.

 

After a few difficult year with Astana, Simone Ponzi decided to join YellowFluo for the 2014 season in an attempt to reinvigorate his career. The decision appears to have been a wise one as he could not have started his time with the team in a better way.

 

In the first race of the Italian season, the GP Costa degli Etruschi, which for the second year running was held on a harder course than usual, he took an impressive solo win. His teammate Mauro Finetto made it a fantastic day for the team in their first outing of the year when he won the sprint for 2nd from a small peloton.

 

Ponzi and Finetto were joined by teammate Matteo Rabottini, Davide Formolo (Cannondale) and Patrik Sinkewitz (Meridiana Kamen) to form a select front group that managed to escape on the final passage of the steep Torre Segalari climb. The quintet combined forces in an attempt to stay clear on the final 9.1km run-in to the finish, with Lampre-Merida leading a hard chase in the small peloton.

 

With a gap of a bit more than 10 seconds, YellowFluo decided to use their strength in numbers inside the final 3km. Ponzi was the first to launch an attack and this ended up being the right move.

 

While the other attackers were all caught, Ponzi stayed away all the way to the finish, taking his first win in a season that should see the YellowFluo team get back on track after a turbulent 2013 season. Finetto beat Andrea Pasqualon (Aero Zero) to make it a 1-2 for the Italian team.

 

The Italian season continues on February 21 with the hilly Trofeo Laigueglia.

 

A hilly course

The 190.6km GP Costa degli Etruschi was back in its usual February slot after having been delayed to September in 2013. While the race has traditionally opened the Italian season with a big bunch sprint, a more selective course was chosen for the second consecutive year, with two late passages of Torre Segalari (2.9km, 9%) set to produce some spectacle. From the top of the last passage, only 9.1km of descending and flat roads remained.

 

The peloton was made up of Italian ProTeams Cannondale and Lampre-Merida, pro continental teams Bardiani, YellowFluo, Androni, and Colombia and a long string of continental teams in addition to the Italian U23 national team. After a long winter break, the riders were apparently very eager to start their season and the smaller teams eager to make their mark as the first part of the race was extremely fast, with several attacks being launched off the front.

 

Unsuccessful attacks

The first riders to open a significant gap were Willie Smith (Vini Fantini) and Logan Loader (Amore e Vita) but the duo didn't have much success. Next to try were Alessio Camilli (Vega) and Davide Ballerini (Idea) but their attempt was similarly ill-fated.

 

The high pace made it very difficult for anybody to escape but it briefly looked promising when Eduar Grosu (Vini Fantini), Alois Kankovsky (Dukla Praha), Ballerini, Fabio Chinello (Aero Zero) and Francesco Castegnaro (Italy) opened up an advantage. However, several teams were not satisfied with the situation and the group was again brought back.

 

The break is formed

Finally, the elastic snapped when Grosu, Francesco Lamon (Italy), Matteo Spreafico (Idea), Chinello, Marco Tecchio (Aero Zero), Botond Hollo (Utensilnord), Felix Grossshartner (Gourmetfein) and Ondrej Vendolsky (Dukla Praha) moved clear. While the peloton took the time to take a short breather, the octet started to work together to extend their advantage.

 

When the escape reached the top of the day's first climb, Campiglia Marittima, they had already built up a gap of 8.15. At the 58.5km mark, they crossed the finish line for the first time, having opened their advantage to  a massive 9.10.

 

YellowFluo start to chase

By this time, the peloton had started to react as YellowFluo had taken responsibility to initiate a chase. With fast finishers and good climbers Simone Ponzi - who had told Spaziociclismo in the morning that he was feeling good - and Mauro Finetto, the team were eager to set up their captains for the win.

 

YellowFluo started to bring down the gap which had come down to 8.40 by the time more teams showed interest in setting up a chase. Bardiani - who had Enrico Battaglin and Sonny Colbrelli among the big favourites for the race - and Androni Venezuela - who were eager to launch some of their climbers Johnny Hoogerland, Franco Pellizotti, Gianfranco Zilioli, Diego Rosa and Patrick Facchini - decided to lend a hand.

 

A fast race

When the riders crossed the line for the second time after 82.8km of racing, the gap had been reduced to 8.12. At this point, the riders had been travelling with an average speed of more than 45km/h, making for a very fast opening of the season.

 

On the next lap on the flat circuit that the riders would do three times in the middle of the race, Bardiani, Androni and YellowFluo significantly ramped up the speed. When they crossed the line after 107.1km of racing, the gap had dropped down to 5.15.

 

Cannondale joins the chase

YellowFluo did most of the work but got even more assistance when the gap had come down to less than 5 minutes as Cannondale decided to join the chase. The Italian team had exciting young neo-pro Davide Villella as a potential winner candidate on the difficult course.

 

While Cannondale and YellowFluo were now doing most of the work, the riders up front had again hit the climbs and this was too much for Vendolsky and Hollo who were dropped. YellowFluo later disappeared from the front but Cannondale again got some assistance from Androni as the gap had come down to 2.45 at the next passage of the finish line.

 

Lamon is dropped

The next time up a climb, it was Lamon who fell off the pace, leaving just 5 riders in the front group. Meanwhile, Lampre-Merida and Colombia started to show their cards, with the two teams each putting a man on the front.

 

Lampre-Merida set a high pace as they approached the first passage of the final climb and picked up Lamon, Vendolsky and Hollo in the process. They brought the gap to 1.40 when they hit the climb where Androni and Cannondale again took over the pace-setting.

 

The front group splits up

On the climb, the front group splintered, leaving only Grosu and Grossschartner as leaders of the race. Tecchio and Spreafico were in close pursuit while the peloton had brought the gap down to less than a minute.

 

Grossschartner left his companion behind while Colombia got a serious blow when one of their leaders Fabio Duate hit the deck. Meanwhile, YellowFluo had again taken responsibility in the peloton, joining Cannondale in the lead work.

 

A sextet is formed

Grossschartner was caught by Tecchio and they now had a small 23-second advantage. Meanwhile, things were heating up in the peloton as Davide Formolo (Cannondale), Patrik Sinkewitz (Meridiana), Mauro Finetto (YellowFluo) and Matteo Rabottini (YelloFluo) attacked.

 

The two front groups came together to form a sextet while Colombia led the chase in the peloton which now only consisted of around 25 riders. They were replaced by Bardiani who had missed the move and were still eager to set up a sprint for Battaglin and Colbrelli. A third group was led by Vini Fantini but they had little chance to come back.

 

Bardiani sets a fierce pace

Bardiani caught the front sextet while the second group also rejoined the main peloton, making it a 40-50 rider group. The Italian team kept the pace high all the way to the bottom of the climb.

 

Formolo and Rabottini hit the front on the lower slopes and even opened a small gap. The duo managed to stay clear for most of the climb, with Rabottini getting dropped just before the top.

 

5 riders get clear

Rabottini was joined by his teammates Ponzi and Finetto who set off in pursuit of Formolo while Sinkewitz was a little further back. Those 5 riders all came together while Lampre-Merida took responsibility for the chase.

 

With a 10-second gap, Rabottini fell off the pace, leaving just 4 riders in the front group. However, he refused to give up and managed to rejoin the leaders.

 

Ponzi launches his attack

Inside the final 3km, the gap was still around 10 seconds. YellowFluo tried to exploit their strength in numbers by launching Ponzi up the road and he quickly opened a gap.

 

The four chasers were all caught while Ponzi could start the final kilometre with an 8-second advantage. Despite the best efforts from the pack, they never caught the YellowFluo rider who took a beautiful solo win while his teammate Finetto sprinted to a 1-2 for the team.