'Classicissima'
Idaho native finishes inside favourites' group at Via Roma, aged just 21, in his first ever Monument as a pro. Héctor Carretero completes 230km breakaway.
/ Today’s route
No less than the longest one-day UCI event since the late 1980s. The 2020 Milano-Sanremo was forced to change its route radically, after several city councils decided not to allow the race going through its streets. 305km were on the day’s menu, with four main climbs: Niella Belbo and Colle di Nava, longer and further away from the coast, plus the famous, decisive Cipressa and Poggio, inside the last 30km.
/ Weather report
Scorching hot, and completely different to what riders find every year at the ‘Classicissima’. A maximum 33ºC in the interior and around 30º in the Riviera Ligure, with southerly gusts that meant riders had to face a crosswind through the Poggio.
/ Keys to the race
- Only two kilometers had been covered before the morning break was gone in the ‘Primavera’, with Héctor Carretero, in his ninth appearance at a ‘Monument’, going off the front with Boaro (AST), Damiano Cima (GAZ), Tonelli, Mazzucco (BCF), Bais (ANS) and Frapporti (THA). A seven-minute advantage was ammassed by a group soon kept under control at a steady pace by Lotto Soudal and Groupama-FDJ.
- Deceuninck and Jumbo-Visma added a couple of legs each to the pursuit at the climb of Niella Belbo, where the advantage (-130km) was around 4’30” for Carretero‘s group. However, the Spaniard, quite active at the turns into the breakaway until then, lost contact sharply at the Colle di Nava, after a 230km effort, and was caught almost immediately by the group of favourites. His break companions saw their adventure end with 35km to go.
- The protagonism baton was taken at the favourites’ group by Davide Villella and, most notably, a great Matteo Jorgenson. The American rider, who lives in Nice and usually trains on roads close to the final section of the ‘Primavera’, got to the top of the Poggio inside the main group and crossed the finish at a nice 17th spot, aged just 21 and his first-ever Monument as a pro. Wout van Aert (TJV) narrowly bested Julian Alaphilippe (DQT) at the final sprint after the two broke away into the last climb; Michael Matthews (SUN) completed the podium.
/ Upcoming goals
The Movistar Team’s ‘Italian bubble’ will kick off its final week of racing in the country before the National Championships at the Gran Piemonte, on Wednesday 12th August. A lumpy race before the second ‘Monument’ of this summer, Il Lombardia, on Saturday 15th.
/ Also today…
Over at the Tour de Pologne, Remco Evenepoel (DQT) completed a fantastic exhibition with an old-school attack, more than 50km along at the front, to dedicate his team-mate Fabio Jakobsen a great victory by almost two minutes at the Queen stage in Bukowina (153km), ahead of Fuglsang (AST) and Simon Yates (MTS). Imanol Erviti (+9’24”) and Lluís Mas (+12’55”) were the top Movistar Team finishers in a day where Jürgen Roelandts was forced to abandon with stomach problems and health issues since Friday. One stage is remaining in Poland on Sunday, with a sprint finish expected in Kraków (188km).
2020 Tour de Pologne – Stage 4 results
Cover picture (c): BettiniPhoto