Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) got a rare chance to ride for himself in today’s final stage of the Giro del Trentino and the Italian grabbed it with both hands when he came out on top on the difficult circuit in Cles. Having made it into the right 3-rider breakaway, he managed to beat David Arroyo (Caja Rural) and Fabio Duarte (Colombia) in the sprint while Richie Porte (Sky) got safely through the day and secured the overall victory.

 

Paolo Tiralongo is known as one of the most loyal domestiques in the peloton. For years, he was a key rider at the Lampre team before he joined forces with Alberto Contador at the Astana team. In recent years, he has been known as the bodyguard for young Fabio Aru and has almost the same racing schedule as the talented climber.

 

However, Tiralongo is an extremely talented bike rider who knows how to take his chance when he is given an opportunity. In both 2011 and 2012, he won a stage in the Giro d’Italia, making use of his great climbing skills and fast sprint.

 

This week he was again expected to work for Aru in the Giro del Trentino but when the Italian was taken out due to illness, the hierarchy in the Astana team became a lot flatter. Mikel Landa has been riding excellently but the door was still open for Tiralongo to take his chance in the final stage whose mixed course looked like a good opportunity for a breakaway.

 

Tiralongo knows how to grab those opportunities in this like. In 2013, he was given the chance in stage 3 where he finished second behind now-teammate Michele Scarponi and today he did even better when he took the win in Cles.

 

Tiralongo benefited from a very fast start to the race where a strong 15-rider group forced Cannondale-Garmin who had missed the move, to chase hard. When Diego Rosa (Astana) bridged across, Team Sky had to shut it down and so the race was back together when they hit the hardest climb of the day at the midpoint of the race.

 

Here Tiralongo made his move and he made it into a strong 7-rider leader group near the top. Here Fabio Duarte attacked out of the breakaway and the Colombian crested the summit as the lone leader.

 

Tiralongo refused to give up and he joined forces with David Arroyo to form a strong duo that made it back to Duarte just before the start of the first lap of the 14km finishing circuit. At this point, the peloton was already more than 4 minutes behind and even though MTN-Qhubeka started to chase hard, they never made it back.

 

Instead, the front trio had to work hard to keep their four chasers at bay but with 5km to go, it was clear that the winner would come from the front group. Hence, the attacking could start and it was Arroyo, arguably the slowest finisher, who made repeated attempts.

 

Confident in his sprint, Tiralongo shut everything down and so it came down to a final dash to the line for the three riders. Here Tiralongo easily held off Arroyo and Duarte to take his first win for almost 3 years. Alessandro Bisolti (Nippo-Vini Fantini) won the sprint from the chase group while Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) led the peloton home 49 seconds too late.

 

Richie Porte (Sky) was safe in this group and so secured the overall victory with a 22-second advantage over Landa while his teammate Leopold König completed the podium. Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) was the best young rider and Rodolfo Torres (Colombia) the best climber. Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18) won the sprints competition while Astana was the best team.

 

With the Giro del Trentino done and dusted, there’s only one Italian race left before the start of the Giro d’Italia. Many riders will use Sunday’s hilly one-day race Giro dell’Appenninno as one final test of their condition before the Italian grand tour.

 

A tricky stage

After two days in the high mountains, the Giro del Trentino ended with a tricky stage that brought the riders over 161.5km from Malé to Cles. After a rolling first part, the riders tackled two category 2 climbs before they descended to the finish in Cles. Here they ended the race by doing two laps of a 14km finishing circuit that included a 2km climb with a steep 12% section before they hit the final 3km which were slightly descending and flat.

 

There was one non-starter when the peloton gathered in Malé under a beautiful sunny sky as Bardiani sprinter Andrea Piechele was absent. The rest of the bunch got the race off to a brutally fast start as they all knew that this could be a day for a breakaway.

 

A big group gets clear

After a few kilometres of racing, a big 15-rider group got clear as Patrick Gretsch (Ag2r), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Sergei Tvetcov (Androni), Simone Sterbini (Bardiani), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo), Giorgio Cecchinel, Mirko Tedeschi (Southeast), Simone Petilli (Italy), Cayetano Sarmiento (Colombia), Daniel Teklehaimanot, Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN-Qhubeka), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18), Miguel Angel Benito, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) and David Wöhrer (Tirol) took off. They managed to build an advantage of 33 seconds but as Cannondale-Garmin had missed the break, they were chasing hard in the peloton, with Ryder Hesjedal doing a lot of work.

 

The hard work paid off and after 30km of racing, Cannondale-Garmin had reduced the gap to 24 seconds. The American team whittled the group down to just 50 riders in the hilly terrain but as they started to ran out of power, the gap grew to 2.02 after an hour of racing.

 

Benito and Cecchinel crash

While Manabu Ishibashi (Nippo) left the race, Benedetti beat Wöhrer and Sterbini in the intermediate sprint and Cannondale-Garmin continued their hard work. The Americans again got the upper hand and brought the gap down to 1.08 before they kept it stable between 1.00 and 1.30 for a while.

 

At this point, Benito and Cecchinel both crashed in the break and while the latter managed to rejoin the break, the former left the race in an ambulance. At the same time, the riders hit the harder part of the course where the attacking started from the peloton when Diego Rosa (Astana), Moreno Moser (Cannondale) and Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani) took off.

 

Rosa, Bongiorno and Moser bridge the gap

The trio brought the gap down to 26 seconds while Team Sky started to chase hard. Meanwhile, Luca Paolini, Giulio Ciccone (Italy), Iuri Filosi (Nippo) and Dominik Nerz (Bora-Argon 18) all left the race.

 

Moser, Bongiorno and Rosa made the junction at the 65km mark at a point when the peloton was 58 seconds behind but Sky had no intention of letting Rosa slip away. The British team had brought the gap down to 38 seconds when they hit the first climb where Tedeschi quickly dropped off.

 

The break is caught

Sterbini was the next to get distanced before Petilli led Bongiorno and Txurruka over the top of the climb. The peloton followed 32 seconds later after they had had the gap down to 18 seconds at one point.

 

There was no great cooperation in the breakaway and so Sky managed to bring it back together at the 82km mark just before they hit the second climb of the day. That opened the doors for new attacks and it was Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18) and Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) who made the first attempt.

 

Tiralongo takes off

The pair were joined by Gianfranco Zilioli (Androni) and Hugo Houle (Ag2r) and later Luca Chirico (Bardiani) and Petilli also made it across. Tiralongo was the next to make the junction before Arroyo and Alexander Foliforov (Rusvelo) also joined the leaders. Finally, Duarte got across while the peloton worked hard 20 seconds behind.

 

Simone Andreeta and Sterbini (Bardiani) were the next to leave the race while the fast pace in the peloton almost brought it back together. Just before the break was caught, Tiralongo tried again and only Duarte and Arroyo managed to rejoin him.

 

A 6-rider group is formed

A 7-rider chase group was formed from where Zilioli managed to bridge the gap to the leaders. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) and Alessandro Bisolti (Nippo) set off in pursuit and they were joined by Houle, Chirico, Foliforov, Petilli, Buchmann and Madrazo to form a new chase group.

 

Peraud and Bisolti were the strongest in this group and they managed to join the leaders at the 95km mark. At this point, the 6 leaders were 30 seconds ahead of Buchmann and Chirico while the peloton was 8 seconds further adrift.

 

Duarte takes off

Duarte was the strongest rider in the break and he managed to distance his companions while Petilli joined the Tiralongo group. The Colombian was the first to crest the summit, followed by Tiralongo, Arroyo and the rest of the chasers at 24 seconds while the peloton was led by Sky at 1.18.

 

Duarte worked hard to maintain his gap on the descent while the peloton slowed down. At the 120km mark, they were 3.15 behind while an impressive Duarte had extended his advantage to 1.06.

 

Tiralongo and Arroyo rejoin Duarte

Tiralongo and Arroyo managed to distance Peraud, Bisolti, Petilli and Zilioli and at the 124km mark, they had brought the gap down to 39 seconds. The peloton was now 4.10 behind and completely out of the battle for the victory.

 

Just before the first passage of the line, Tiralongo and Arroyo made it back to Duarte and the trio crossed the line with a 30-second advantage over their four chasers while the peloton was at 4.13, still led by Sky. While the leaders managed to extend their advantage over their chasers, the attacking started again from the bunch when Moser took off. The Italian was joined by Txurruka and Gianni Moscon (Italy).

 

Arroyo starts the attacking

At the next passage of the line, the leaders were 1.16 ahead of their chasers while the Moser trio was at 2.30 and the peloton at 2.40. With 10km to go, they had extended their advantage to 1.38 and it seemed that the chasers were out of the battle for the win.

 

MTN-Qhubeka were now leading the chase and they quickly brought the Moser group back. Meanwhile, the attacking started in the front group when Arroyo attacked with 6km to go. Tiralongo was quick to respond and when Duarte also got back, the trio was again back together.

 

The peloton had now brought the gap down to 1.37 and Tiralongo had to work hard to keep them at bay. Meanwhile, Arroyo launched several attacks but he had no chance to get away from the faster finishers.  Hence, it came down to a 3-rider sprint where Tiralongo emerged as the fastest before Bisolti led the chasers home 37 seconds later. Txurruka was the fastest in the peloton.