Race favourites such as Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Michele Scarponi (Lampre Merida) and last year’s winner Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale) may have started the race hoping to fight for the overall title, but their task has become a whole lot tougher after a surprising opening stage of the Giro del Trentino today.
Pozzovivo’s team-mate Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) snatched victory, being one of an eight man move which gained significant time on the peloton. He outsprinted Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) and Michael Rodriguez (Colombia) to pick up victory in Lienz and, importantly, ended the stage nearly seven minutes ahead of the peloton.
It means that he and the other two riders are in a commanding position in the event, which continues this afternoon with a 14.1km team time trial in Lienz.
“I get inspired by Italian races, even if I am just off a three-week time of rest, and my condition is not outstanding,” Bouet said afterwards. “I found myself in the break, and I gave it all to play my chances, as I knew I was fast in the sprint.”
The Frenchman went clear early on with Cerny, Rodriguez, Nicola Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia Fondriest), Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural), Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN Qhubeka) and Gang Xu (Champion System).
Those riders build a maximum lead of eight minutes 51 seconds and while the peloton chased for a while, cooperation later crumbled as too few teams helped out.
That greatly boosted the break’s prospects of staying away, and ensured that one of the eight would win the stage.
Rodriguez tried to utilise his climbing strength on the Iselsberg, which came just over ten kilometres from the finish, but he was hauled back. Cerny attacked on the descent but both Bouet and Rodriguez got back to him. The Frenchman was then quickest in the three man gallop to the line.
Dal Santo, Moyano and Kochetkov were next in, 39 seconds back, with Janse Van Rensburg a further two seconds down in seventh and Xu holding on to take eighth.
Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) led in the main bunch a very considerable six minutes 51 secs later, with this gap handed Bouet a solid advantage at this early point.
Just four stages remain in the race, with this afternoon’s team time trial being followed by three mountain legs. While he’s built up a considerable buffer, Bouet doesn’t want to presume anything.
“We got a nice advantage on the favourites, but I am unsure about my GC credentials,” he said. “We will focus on our Ag2r leader Pozzovivo from today on. He is our leader and we will work for him.”
The team is likely to instruct Bouet to hold on as best he can, as his leader’s position hands Ag2r la Mondiale two cards to play.
Giro del Trentino (2.1)
Stage 1a, Lienz:
1, Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale) 128.5 kilometres in 2 hours 48 mins 59 secs
2, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
3, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia)
4, Nicola Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 39 secs
5, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
6, Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo)
7, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN - Qhubeka) at 41 secs
8, Gang Xu (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 11 secs
9, Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 6 mins 51 secs
10, Leonardo Fabio Duque (Colombia)
11, Peter Kennaugh (Sky Procycling)
12, Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli)
13, Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Androni Giocattoli)
14, Marco Canola (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
15, Stefano Garzelli (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
16, Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar)
17, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling)
18, Gregor Gazvoda (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
19, Kanstantin Siutsou (Sky Procycling)
20, Andre Fernando S.Mar Cardoso (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
21, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing Team)
22, Jonathan Monsalve (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
23, Jackson Jesu Rodriguez Ortiz (Androni Giocattoli)
24, Fabio Taborre (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
25, Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
26, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team)
27, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team)
28, Jan Barta (Team Netapp - Endura)
29, Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
30, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
31, Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
32, Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
33, Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Lampre - Merida)
34, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre - Merida)
35, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli)
36, Carlos Julia Quintero Norena (Colombia)
37, Marco Corti (Colombia)
38, Chad Beyer (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
39, Bartosz Huzarski (Team Netapp - Endura)
40, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling)
41, Omar Fraile Matarranza (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
42, Ruben Fernandez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
43, Mateusz Taciak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
44, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team)
45, Michele Scarponi (Lampre - Merida)
46, Kristijan Durasek (Lampre - Merida)
47, Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida)
48, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
49, David G De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team Netapp - Endura)
50, Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team)
51, Sergio Pardilla Bellon (MTN - Qhubeka)
52, Leopold Konig (Team Netapp - Endura)
53, Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli)
54, Lukasz Owsian (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
55, Juan Pablo Suarez Suarez (Colombia)
56, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
57, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team)
58, José C Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
59, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Colombia)
60, Valerio Agnoli (Astana Pro Team)
61, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
62, Dario Cataldo (Sky Procycling)
63, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
64, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
65, Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team)
66, Tsgabu Grmay (MTN - Qhubeka)
67, Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
68, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale)
69, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team)
70, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
71, Hubert Dupont (Ag2r La Mondiale)
72, Artem Ovechkin (Rusvelo)
73, Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
74, Cameron Wurf (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
75, Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
76, Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
77, Louis Meintjes (MTN - Qhubeka)
78, Jarlinson Pantano Gomez (Colombia)
79, Ivan Basso (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
80, Christopher Butler (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
81, Sergey Firsanov (Rusvelo)
82, Natnael Berhane (Team Europcar)
83, Ben Gastauer (Ag2r La Mondiale)
84, Sergei Pomoshnikov (Rusvelo)
85, Andrea Manfredi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
86, Antonio Santoro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
87, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli)
88, Filippo Savini (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
89, Sylvain Georges (Ag2r La Mondiale)
90, Danny Pate (Sky Procycling)
91, Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Androni Giocattoli)
92, Xabier Zandio Echaide (Sky Procycling)
93, Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar)
94, Giairo Ermeti (Androni Giocattoli)
95, Alexander Rybakov (Rusvelo)
96, Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 7 mins 29 secs
97, Ryota Nishizono (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
98, Meron Russom (MTN - Qhubeka)
99, Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team) at 7 mins 51 secs
100, Kin San Wu (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
101, Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r La Mondiale)
102, Cesare Benedetti (Team Netapp - Endura)
103, Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Sky Procycling)
104, Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
105, Jeffry Joha G Romero Corredor (Colombia)
106, Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
107, Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar)
108, David Veilleux (Team Europcar)
109, Johann Van Zyl (MTN - Qhubeka) at 8 mins 39 secs
110, Chan Jae Jang (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 9 mins 39 secs
111, Ralf Matzka (Team Netapp - Endura)
112, Angelo Tulik (Team Europcar)
113, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
114, Youcef Reguigui (MTN - Qhubeka)
115, Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Lampre - Merida)
116, Muhamad Adiq Othman (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
117, Songezo Jim (MTN - Qhubeka)
118, Cristiano Monguzzi (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
119, Ilya Gorodnichev (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
120, Alessandro Mauro Vanotti (Astana Pro Team)
121, Juraj Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 11 mins 12 secs
122, Alexandr Mironov (Rusvelo)
123, Adam Blythe (BMC Racing Team)
124, Michael Schwarzmann (Team Netapp - Endura)
125, Jonathan Mcevoy (Team Netapp - Endura)
126, Sergey Klimov (Rusvelo)
127, Andrea Fedi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
128, Sebastian Lander (BMC Racing Team)
129, Tiziano Dall'antonia (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
130, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
131, Andrei Solomennikov (Rusvelo)
132, Valentin Iglinskiy (Ag2r La Mondiale)
133, Manuel Belletti (Ag2r La Mondiale)
134, Roberto Ferrari (Lampre - Merida)
135, Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
136, Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
137, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
138, Marco Coledan (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 12 mins 17 secs
139, Davide Vigano' (Lampre - Merida)
140, Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar)
Intermediate sprint:
1, Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo) 6 pts
2, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) 4
3, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) 2
King of the Mountains prime at Iselsberg (Cat. 2):
1, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia) 6 pts
2, Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale) 4
3, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) 2
Overall classification after stage 1a:
1, Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale) 2 hours 48 mins 53 secs
2, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 2 secs
3, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia) at 4 secs
4, Nicola Dal Santo (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest) at 45 secs
5, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
6, Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo)
7, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN - Qhubeka) at 47 secs
8, Gang Xu (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 17 secs
9, Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 6 mins 57 secs
10, Leonardo Fabio Duque (Colombia)
11, Peter Kennaugh (Sky Procycling)
12, Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli)
13, Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Androni Giocattoli)
14, Marco Canola (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
15, Stefano Garzelli (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
16, Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar)
17, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling)
18, Gregor Gazvoda (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
19, Kanstantin Siutsou (Sky Procycling)
20, Andre Fernando S.Mar Cardoso (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
21, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing Team)
22, Jonathan Monsalve (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
23, Jackson Jesu Rodriguez Ortiz (Androni Giocattoli)
24, Fabio Taborre (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
25, Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
26, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team)
27, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team)
28, Jan Barta (Team Netapp - Endura)
29, Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
30, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
31, Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
32, Alessandro Proni (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
33, Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Lampre - Merida)
34, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre - Merida)
35, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli)
36, Carlos Julia Quintero Norena (Colombia)
37, Marco Corti (Colombia)
38, Chad Beyer (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
39, Bartosz Huzarski (Team Netapp - Endura)
40, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling)
41, Omar Fraile Matarranza (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
42, Ruben Fernandez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
43, Mateusz Taciak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
44, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team)
45, Michele Scarponi (Lampre - Merida)
46, Kristijan Durasek (Lampre - Merida)
47, Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida)
48, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
49, David G De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team Netapp - Endura)
50, Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team)
51, Sergio Pardilla Bellon (MTN - Qhubeka)
52, Leopold Konig (Team Netapp - Endura)
53, Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli)
54, Lukasz Owsian (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
55, Juan Pablo Suarez Suarez (Colombia)
56, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
57, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team)
58, José C Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
59, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Colombia)
60, Valerio Agnoli (Astana Pro Team)
61, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
62, Dario Cataldo (Sky Procycling)
63, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
64, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
65, Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team)
66, Tsgabu Grmay (MTN - Qhubeka)
67, Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
68, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale)
69, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team)
70, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
71, Hubert Dupont (Ag2r La Mondiale)
72, Artem Ovechkin (Rusvelo)
73, Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
74, Cameron Wurf (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
75, Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
76, Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
77, Louis Meintjes (MTN - Qhubeka)
78, Jarlinson Pantano Gomez (Colombia)
79, Ivan Basso (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
80, Christopher Butler (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
81, Sergey Firsanov (Rusvelo)
82, Natnael Berhane (Team Europcar)
83, Ben Gastauer (Ag2r La Mondiale)
84, Sergei Pomoshnikov (Rusvelo)
85, Andrea Manfredi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
86, Antonio Santoro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
87, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli)
88, Filippo Savini (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
89, Sylvain Georges (Ag2r La Mondiale)
90, Danny Pate (Sky Procycling)
91, Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Androni Giocattoli)
92, Xabier Zandio Echaide (Sky Procycling)
93, Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar)
94, Giairo Ermeti (Androni Giocattoli)
95, Alexander Rybakov (Rusvelo)
96, Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 7 mins 35 secs
97, Ryota Nishizono (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
98, Meron Russom (MTN - Qhubeka)
99, Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team) at 7 mins 57 secs
100, Kin San Wu (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
101, Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r La Mondiale)
102, Cesare Benedetti (Team Netapp - Endura)
103, Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Sky Procycling)
104, Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
105, Jeffry Joha G Romero Corredor (Colombia)
106, Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
107, Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar)
108, David Veilleux (Team Europcar)
109, Johann Van Zyl (MTN - Qhubeka) at 8 mins 45 secs
110, Chan Jae Jang (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 9 mins 45 secs
111, Ralf Matzka (Team Netapp - Endura)
112, Angelo Tulik (Team Europcar)
113, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 9 hours 45 mins 0 secs
114, Youcef Reguigui (MTN - Qhubeka)
115, Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Lampre - Merida)
116, Muhamad Adiq Othman (Champion System Pro Cycling Team)
117, Songezo Jim (MTN - Qhubeka)
118, Cristiano Monguzzi (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
119, Ilya Gorodnichev (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
120, Alessandro Mauro Vanotti (Astana Pro Team)
121, Juraj Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling 1) at 1 hours 18 mins 0 secs
122, Alexandr Mironov (Rusvelo)
123, Adam Blythe (BMC Racing Team)
124, Michael Schwarzmann (Team Netapp - Endura)
125, Jonathan Mcevoy (Team Netapp - Endura)
126, Sergey Klimov (Rusvelo)
127, Andrea Fedi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
128, Sebastian Lander (BMC Racing Team)
129, Tiziano Dall'antonia (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
130, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
131, Andrei Solomennikov (Rusvelo)
132, Valentin Iglinskiy (Ag2r La Mondiale)
133, Manuel Belletti (Ag2r La Mondiale)
134, Roberto Ferrari (Lampre - Merida)
135, Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
136, Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
137, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
138, Marco Coledan (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox 1) at 2 hours 23 mins 0 secs
139, Davide Vigano' (Lampre - Merida)
140, Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar)
Sprint classification:
1, Pavel Kochetkov (Rusvelo) 6 pts
2, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) 4
3, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) 2
Mountains:
1, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia) 6 pts
2, Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale) 4
3, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) 2
Young rider:
1, Josef Cerny (CCC Polsat Polkowice) 2 hours 48 mins 55 secs
2, Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia) at 2 secs
3, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) at 43 secs
4, Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox) at 6 mins 55 secs
5, Peter Kennaugh (Sky Procycling)
6, Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli)
7, Jonathan Monsalve (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
8, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli)
9, Omar Fraile Matarranza (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
10, Ruben Fernandez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
11, Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida)
12, David G De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team Netapp - Endura)
13, Lukasz Owsian (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
14, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
15, Tsgabu Grmay (MTN - Qhubeka)
16, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team)
17, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
18, Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
19, Stefano Locatelli (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
20, Louis Meintjes (MTN - Qhubeka)
21, Natnael Berhane (Team Europcar)
22, Sergei Pomoshnikov (Rusvelo)
23, Andrea Manfredi (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
24, Antonio Santoro (Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest)
25, Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Sky Procycling) at 7 mins 55 secs
26, Jeffry Joha G Romero Corredor (Colombia)
27, Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox)
28, Johann Van Zyl (MTN - Qhubeka) at 8 mins 43 secs
29, Chan Jae Jang (Champion System Pro Cycling Team) at 9 mins 43 secs
30, Ralf Matzka (Team Netapp - Endura)