Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) sealed the overall title at the Tour of the Alps in style, winning the mountainous final stage of the race on Friday.
The Italian, wearing the green leader’s jersey after his stage 2 triumph, attacked a few kilometres shy of the summit of the second of two ascents of the Montoppio climb before soloing for 21km down to the finish in Bolzano.
The Ineos Grenadiers duo of Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal, both starting the day four seconds down on Pellizzari’s lead, were both distanced and dismantled as the 22-year-old claimed the first GC success of his young and highly promising career.
Bernal was second across the line alongside Arensman in third, the Ineos duo coming home 30 seconds down in a trio that also featured last year’s winner, Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling).
The short but explosive finale measured just 128.6km but featured the twin ascents of the category-1 Montoppio (12.7km at 7%) and twin descents of the fast run down into Bolzano.
Ineos dominated the peloton on the first ascent, but Red Bull took control on the second, shredding the bunch, and even shedding their own Alexander Vlasov – fourth on GC – but setting up Pellizzari for a successful launch.
Expertly piloted by Giovanni Aleotti, the GC leader took flight just under 5km from the top of the climb, collecting six bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint a couple of kilometres from the top. His gap had hovered around the 10-second mark over the Ineos duo for much of the climb, but he found 20 by the summit and only increased that on the descent.
Pellizzari ends the race and caps his first GC title with an advantage of 40 seconds over Bernal, who swapped places with his teammate Arensman on GC. That was due to the bonus seconds he collected on the final climb (four for second place) and the finish line (six for second place), with Arensman rounding out the final podium at 50 seconds.
“For me, it’s crazy. The last climb I knew I had to go full, not for me but the team, because they did an amazing job all week, and they deserve this more than me,” Pellizzari said.
“I have to say it was pretty hard, and super hot, but I had to do it for the team. It’z crazy to be here. I don’t want to say I won the Tour of the Alps, but that Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe won the Tour of the Alps.”
How it unfolded
The short final stage got off to a flying start, with the short opening climb of the day, to Palù di Giovo, coming after just a few kilometres. It was only in the valley on the other side that a breakaway formed, and it contained some big names.
Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) was in there, seeking another hit-out ahead of Liège-Bastogne-Liège following his win on stage 3. The Briton was joined by another of the week's stage winners in Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling), who was seeking to snatch the mountains classification.
Also up the road were: Juan Felipe Rodriguez, Alastair Mackellar (EF Education-EasyPost), Mark Donovan (Pinarello-Q36.5), Koen Bouwman (Jayco-AlUla), Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious), Nicolo Garibbo (Team Ukyko), Bais (Polti-VisitMalta), and Marton Dina (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort).
The move was never given more than three minutes of an advantage as they headed over the category-2 Alta di Caldaro (4.4 km at 6.6%) en route to the halfway point and onto the double mountain helping in the final that made up the final 50km of the stage.
The breakaway was shattered on the first ascent of Montoppio, with Pidcock keen to push on. He couldn't quite go it alone, as Rodriguez rode well with him and the pair headed over the top together in the lead of the race.
Pidcock used his descending skills to edge clear on the downhill, but once the road tilted up again, it was Rodriguez who proved slightly stronger, attacking and riding away from Pidcock, but only just before both riders were caught by the advancing and thinning bunch just under 8km from the summit of the final climb.
It was at that point that Red Bull lit up the race. Until then, Ineos had controlled the peloton, all the way up the first ascent of Montoppio and on the lower slopes of the second. But Aleotti burst to the front just as Pidcock was being caught, raising the pace notably.
The Italian reduced the GC group to just a dozen riders before his compatriot Pellizzari took flight a few kilometres from the top. Arensman and Bernal immediately followed, but just a few hundred meters later, another kick, and they were gone, first Bernal, then Arenseman.
The Ineos duo joined forces for a couple of kilometres before Bernal hit out and left his teammate behind, with Arensman joined by an advancing Storer.
At the bonus seconds sprint 2km shy of the summit, Pellizzari took six bonus seconds, with Bernal crossing the line 10 seconds down to take four bonus seconds, while Storer claimed the final two, 20 seconds down.
At that point, the stage was still in the balance, but Bernal drifted back, and Pellizzari took a lead of 20 seconds over the top of what was now a chasing trio.
The Italian made no mistake on the descent, taking out the first GC success of what you suspect will be many in his career.
Results
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