Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) stormed to victory in an exciting 2019 edition of Gran Piemonte with a strong late surge which none of his rivals could respond to.
It was a Colombian and Team Ineos double as Bernal, helped by his teammates, made a break two kilometres from the line to finish six-seconds ahead of compatriot Ivan Sosa.
Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) finished third at eight seconds after the 183km run from Aglie to the Sanctuary of Oropa, the scene of Marco Pantani’s infamous Giro d’Italia stage victory in 1999 when he overtook 49 riders in the last eight kilometres.
“I’m really happy because it’s my first victory in Italy. I’ve done a lot of races here and Piemonte is the region I lived in for two years, so it’s really special to win here,” Bernal said.
“I was feeling really good during the race and asked the guys to do a good tempo on the climb. Sosa did a really good job. I won, but Sosa was almost stronger than me. In the end, when I saw we were away as two, I tried to go full gas to the finish, because you never know, sometimes people can come back. Sosa did a really really good job and showed he’s one of the strongest climbers in the peloton.”
Gran Piemonte 2019 results:
| 1 | Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) | 4:24:16 |
| 2 | Ivan Sosa (Team Ineos) | +06” |
| 3 | Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) | +08” |
| 4 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora – Hansgrohe) | +10” |
| 5 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +11” |
| 6 | Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale) | +40” |
| 7 | Davide Villella (Astana) | +46” |
| 8 | Giovanni Visconti (Neri Sottoli Selle Italia) | +47” |
| 9 | Clement Champoussin (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 10 | Carlos Verona (Movistar) | +49” |
