Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) sprinted to victory at the end of a very long, very wet stage three of Tirreno-Adriatico, followed closely by Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) in second place.
The Italian emerged the victor at the front of a reduced peloton, with the efforts of stage favourite Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) stymied by a crash with 23km to go.
The long, shallow climb to the finish at Colfiorito was characterised by repeated efforts by GC favourites including leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates).
But ultimately, despite a concerted solo attempt by Ganna in the final three kilometres that looked as though it could go the distance, the bunch reconvened for the sprint.
"The day was difficult and long, with bad conditions," said Vendrame afterwards. "My team-mates looked after me well. I'm in good condition at the moment and it was really nice to be able to take a victory.
"I thought I had a chance, today," he added. "Maybe not 100%. But my director said to me on the radio, 'you can win this sprint today'. So I started to believe in myself."
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it happened
This super-long stage drove a path directly eastwards from Follonica to Colfiorito in what was the longest stage of the race at 239km. That makes it longer than anything in the forthcoming Giro d'Italia or indeed the Tour de France in July.
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Unfortunately this big day out also coincided with what was the worst weather of the race so far, with heavy skies, incessant rain and wet roads all day long.
Thankfully for the bunch they had a few challenges to keep them warm, with two major climbs in the first half of the race, and a long but relatively shallow haul to the finish.
Shortly after the day's only intermediate sprint at Castel del Piano with 70km to ride, the pairing of Dries De Bont (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-VisitMalta) broke clear. They establish a handy gap which forced the Ineos Grenadiers team of race leader Ganna to swing into action to keep it pegged.
Approaching the final ascent, several riders came down on a tight left-hander. Jonathan Milan was among their number and although he was able to remount a few minutes later, his pained movements made it clear that the stage favourite was unlikely to compete for the win today.
Almost inevitably, the pair of escapees were swept up on the long climb to the finish, after which a flurry of attacks and counter-attacks involving GC hopefuls took place.
There was Ben Healy setting up EF Education team-mate Richard Carapaz, who was clearly eager for stage honours. Gaps opened, but they were covered by Juan Ayuso, Filippo Ganna and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), with the bunch waxing and waning like a murmuration.
A final hard shove by Ganna broke things open, with the Italian drawing out a useful solo gap that was only closed by a huge Van der Poel effort going into the final kilometre, which also set the scene for the bunch sprint.
After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields.
Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.
A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.
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