From pink in the Giro d'Italia to glory in Giro dell'Appennino: Ulissi powers to solo victory

In northwestern Italy, the Giro dell'Appennino, better known in English as the Tour of the Apennines, started in Novi Ligure a few years ago. From there, the riders head towards the coast, where the finish line is in Genoa. After a very difficult ride of just under 200 kilometers, the finish line is on the Ligurian Sea.

This 1.1 classic started on dozens of ‘flatter’ roads, after which the real altitude meters began. Just to be clear, the road was never really flat but always slightly uphill. After a good fifty kilometers, the peloton faced the first climb of the day, the Passo della Castagnola (2.9 km at 5.2%). Just before this climb, a breakaway group formed.

The nine-man breakaway included six Italians: Leonardo Meccia (Technipes), Matteo Zurlo (Padovani Polo Cherry Bank), Matteo Cettolin (General Store-Essegibi), Simone Lucca (Gragnano Sporting Club), Christian Bagatin (Bank Ballan), and Davide De Cassan (Polti-VisitMalta). In addition to the home riders, Nate Pringle (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe Rookies), Ben Granger, and Matthew Kingston (both Mg.K Vis Costruzioni e Ambiente) were also in the group.

After the climbs of the Passo dei Giovi (2.3km at 4.6%) and the Crocetta d'Orero (9km at 3.3%), the early breakaway said goodbye to the four Italians mentioned above, leaving only five riders at the front of the race after 140 kilometers. The lead over the peloton was two and a half minutes at the start of the Pietralayezzara (the penultimate climb).

On that climb, the peloton picked up speed, and things also became restless in the leading group. De Cassan attacked and thus opened the final. The same happened in the peloton: Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) threw himself into the descent and rode solo down to De Cassan. At the start of the final climb, Madonna Della Guardia (6.9 km at 7.8%), Ulissi, who wore the pink leader's jersey for a day in the recent Giro d'Italia, immediately left his compatriot behind. His lead over the peloton was 45 seconds.

On this challenging climb, with sections of 10%, Ulissi defended his lead well. Two riders joined him from the peloton: Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) and Matteo Fabbro (Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini). Barré recently rode a strong Dauphiné and will also be at the start of the Tour de France, as he announced earlier.

At the bottom of the descent, Ulissi attacked again. The eight-time stage winner in the Giro d'Italia attacked and immediately opened up a gap of almost a minute. That lead remained the same in the last ten kilometers, allowing Ulissi to ride unchallenged to another victory, the 49th of his career. And perhaps more importantly, more UCI points for XDS-Astana.