Welcome to Strade Bianche where the gravel roads make this a much more interesting race than it first appears, the favourites for today are Roche and Claeys, as well as local favourite Ginanni
Vespa are taking control of the race today and pull back the first breakaway
On the first gravel section the peloton are chasing hard as 14 riders go clear
Again they are all pulled back
As we hit the routes major climb Agostini tries to spark something
Even one rider alone is not to the liking of the peloton and he gets pulled back
As we hit more gravel with 105km to go 3 riders have gone clear: Vansummeren, Costa and Appleby
1 minute behind them, and a minute clear of the peloton is Agostini
with 90km to go Agostini joins the leaders
The peloton keep the pace reasonably high and splits in half over the next bit of gravel, Hermans, Salerno and Wyss are probably the biggest casualties
The road flattens though and it all comes back together
75km to go and Salerno isn't going to miss a split again, as he attacks, the break are 5'30" ahead currently
Interestingly Wyss and Hermans join him, I guess they discussed this while chasing
With 60km to go for the break Vespa and Pirelli up the tempo of the chase. The peloton is 5' off the lead and 1' off the chasers
52km to go for the break and Agostini starts to loose contact, the peloton have taken 30 seconds off their lead
The pace from pirelli is telling and 13 riders go clear in the peloton:
Sanchez Gonzales, Pasamontes (Cal Giant)
Jiriakov, Dowett (Rapha Condor)
Kunitski (Rothaus)
Pagoto, Bosisio, Ginanni (Vespa)
Kinney, Roche, Cheula, Ianneti, Busche (Pirelli)
Tinkoff are leading the chase from behind
Vespa are trying to put more pressure on Pirelli as Pagoto goes on the attack
He isn't allowed to get a gap
Sucess for Katusha as a group of 18 catches the leaders, Bpost, Bianchi and Trilux also have representation now
The infighting means that the break still have 3'54" with 40km to go
The road is constantly up and down, and the peloton is struggling to pull the breakaway riders back
with 26km to go Agostini is finally caught by the chasing trio, who are 2 minutes off the leaders and 90 seconds ahead of the peloton
20km to go and the gap is starting to fall, it's now 1'26" and 3'09". can the leaders keep working together to hold on?
Agostini is soon dropped by the chasers
Rapha and Bpost are clearly not confident the break will stay away, as Dowsett and Gautier attack
Pirelli pulls them back
The Rapha DS has pulled the trigger for attacks, as Appleby attacks his companions up front
Vansummeren is unamused and over the next 2 km rides him down
This acceleration up front seems to have securred their victory, as the chase 3 are now 2 minutes back with 15km to go
Dowsett again attacks, this time he gets to Agostini, Gautier is trying to follow
Gautier and Agostini are pulled back, while Dowsett is just in front
Hermans has cracked and been dropped from the chase group
Dowsett has been pulled back now
12km to go and Appleby again tries his luck, as the worst sprinter of the three his atacks are understandable
Carrara now attacks, Dowsett and Gautier again follow
with 10km to go A8pleby has a mere 13 seconds
On a decent he is pulled back
At 2'06" come Wyss and Salerno with Hermans 35" behind them
3'29" later comes the peloton, with Monfort attacking
8km to go and again Appleby attacks
But as the leaders come up to 5km to go he is again pulled back. Again Vansummeren doing all the chasing.
Hermans has been pulled back into the bunch, as Sanchez Gonzalez leads Wegman and Dowsett in an attack, Monfort got nowhere
5km to go and Ginanni finally makes his move, far far to late for the win
1500m to go and Costa is sitting at the back waiting, he has had the easiest ride of the three and should be the best sprinter as well.
All Vansummeren's work begins to tell, as the other two fly past him
Costa is clearly quickest, can Vansummeren get back at Appleby as the road flattens?
And Costa takes an excellent victory, breakaways are becoming a real threat this year
Appleby is strong enough to hold on for second ahead of Vansummeren
Salerno comes in 4th having dropped Wyss
Ginanni finishes very fast to get 5th
Then comes Wyss, just holding off Claeys and Roche
And Sanchez Gonzalez pips Carrara to 9th, with the rest of the peloton coming in with them
