With the opening day of racing behind them, Team Picnic PostNL and the rest of the Tour of the Alps peloton rolled out of Telfs late this afternoon for the second day of action. Faced with some categorised climbs throughout the day and the only summit finish of the race, it was expected to be a battle on the slopes at the end of the stage.
Team Picnic PostNL were active from the start with the goal of infiltrating the day’s breakaway with Mattia Gaffuri, and through some good teamwork they did just that; as Gaffuri made it into a group of nine that formed at the head of the race. They worked well together and built up a gap that peaked at five minutes, but it looked as if the peloton had things under control when the gap had tumbled to only one minute and 30 seconds at 30 kilometres to go. However, Gaffuri’s group continued to push on the pedals and as they started the last climb their advantage was at just over one minute.
That meant the break couldn’t play any games, so with around five kilometres to go Gaffuri stamped on the pedals and the group diminished one-by-one, with the Italian eventually leading solo. Behind, the peloton thinned down further as the GC riders upped the tempo and Pellizzari bridged to Gaffuri with around one kilometre of climbing remaining, before another group joined over the top. From there, it was a cagey final few hundred metres and shallow downhill run to the line where Gaffuri showed a good turn of speed to take third place on the stage – a fine reward for a big day out in the breakaway, and his first ever .Pro level podium.
Gaffuri said: “It was the day plan to try for the break today. At first I was a bit hesitant because I wanted to test my legs against the guys from the peloton but in the end we decided it could be a good chance out front. I went in a group of nine guys and it was quite a nice group. The parcours was good for us and we had some tailwind too, so we managed to get to the final climb with one minute on the peloton. I realised that I had to go alone and tried to stay away from the bunch as long as possible. Some of the guys caught me near the top but I held on and it came down to a sprint from the group, where I could get third. I’m really happy with that, and I have to owe it to Phil that the plan to be in the break was the best one for the day.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Phil West added: “We made the goal to get Mattia in the break as we felt like it could be a nice final for him with the climb at the end. Of course, you never know how things go and who would control the stage, as normally it could be a GC shootout on the first mountain stage of the race, and it sort of became that in the end. The aim though was always to try and find a good break. Today Mattia ended up in a nine man group which was ideal for this type of parcours. From there, Mattia focused on being efficient and calm throughout the stage, doing the work we needed to but not spending too much energy, so he could come into the final climb and ride his own effort. I’m happy with how we worked as a team today, as Mattia got some good support from the guys today to get into the break, and we could then manage the race a bit that way. In the end it was a really nice outcome with the podium, so we can be happy.”