Rémi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) won the individual time trial that closed out the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Carpi. It marked the second stage win for the Frenchman, who had also won the opening stage in Riccione.
He covered the 32km time trial with a winning time of 22:12 and was the only rider to break through 50km/h average speed along the flat circuit. He bested runner-up Michael Hepburn (Team Jayco AlUla) by 18 seconds and third-place Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) by 19 seconds.
“We are all super happy with how things went for us this week. This time trial was my biggest goal here. It was a technical course, but I didn’t take any risks and just pushed hard on the straight roads so I could gain seconds there. I’m delighted with this performance, which netted my first ITT victory of the season after that close second in Algarve. The fact that Mauro [Schmid] finished first in the GC is the cherry on the cake," Cavagna said,
Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep) finished 8th in the time trial, 41 seconds slower than his teammate Cavagna, but it was enough to secure the overall victory.
He won the overall race by 16 seconds over runner-up James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost).
EF Education-EasyPost finished with three riders behind Schmid as Healy's strong time trial effort moved him up into third place and Mark Padun in fourth in the overall classification.
“It feels special that my first win of the year came in the form of a stage race. I wasn’t sure I could survive the climb, but I went better than expected. Two stages and the GC – we couldn’t be happier," Schmid said.
“I suffered a bit today because I went too hard in the middle part, and this made me nervous, but I calmed down near the finish because, in the end, I had quite some seconds left in the overall standings. It was a hard week, but we can be proud of how we rode as a team.”
How it unfolded
The fifth and final stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali was a pan-flat 32km time trial that started in Carpi with a large, relatively nontechnical loop before returning to the more technical section back to the finish line.
Schmid started the time trial in the overall race lead, with just 14 seconds on runner-up Shaw and 28 seconds on Walter Calzoni (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team).
The relatively small time gaps made the finale time trial one of the most critical stages of the five-day event.
Josef Černý (Soudal-QuickStep) was the first rider to cover the route at 49km/h speeds and a time of 22:41. However, his time in the hot seat lasted briefly, as Hepburn finished at 22:30.
It seemed the riders' speeds and finishing times would continue to get faster, but Cavagna was the only rider to surpass Hepburn and the only rider to break into the 50km/h average speed finishing his time trial in 22:12.
The race for the third spot on the general classification heated up, with Shaw crossing the line for 10th place on the day and at just two seconds slower the Schmid, enough to hold his second place overall.
Healy, who won stage 3 into Forli, crossed the line to finish third on the day and moved up to third place overall, bypassing Walter Calzoni and Gianluca Brambilla (both Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech).
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