The first stage of the Italian competition started in Milazzo until reaching Bagheria after 199 km of travel, there the more than 130 riders took the game with a single climb ahead of them 20 km from the start, in Tindari, being a short climb of 5.6 km to 3.4%.
Then they faced several slopes during the day but not categorized. At least 7 cyclists left very early to form the escape, reaching up to 3 minutes apart from the main group where one of the top favorites was sheltered: the local Vincenzo Nibali of Astana.
Some runners traveling at the tip returned to the platoon after not being able to withstand the pedaling pace imposed by the fugue teammates, which was the first indication that the main group would seek to close the gap at all costs facing the end.
From Colombians Nelson Soto from Colombia Tierra de Atletes was on the run with 6 other runners when there were still more than 50 km to the finish, the advantage there was 2 minutes against the largest squad: Michael Belleri (Biesse-Race), Gabriele Petrelli (CT Friuli), Alejandro Ropero (Eolo-Kometa), Guido Draghi (Mg.K Vis-Color for Peto) Ace -VPM), Stefando Gandin (Team Corratec), Francesco Zandri (Work Service Vitalcare Vega) were the getaway companions of the Barranquilla coffee grower.
Little by little the quota in time decreased between the chase and the escape, managing to constantly reduce the time difference, given that the men in front were somewhat exhausted by the wear and tear of the day.
Control of the platoon would have been taken at the time by the Italian National Team, helping to cut time with the escape, while other squads that had riders interested in highlighting this first day of competition and who wanted to have the first leader shirt of the Sicilian round collaborated.
The escape with each kilometer leading to the goal was yielding to the step proposed by the platoon in the back, which meant that time was significantly cut with the escape. The teams were already fine-tuning their strategies to launch their runners faster, but they knew they should start by positioning themselves in the group, after they hunted down the riders who had escaped.
In the end, the national team won the first victory of the Italian competition in its number 3 edition with the rider Matteo Maluccelli who in a fairly strong sprint left the Italian Matteo Moschetti of the Segafredo Trek and his compatriot Filippo Fioreli of the Bardiani CSF in second place.
On the part of the Colombians, the best placed in the was German Darío Gómez of Colombia Tierra de Atletes after he got into the 22nd box with the same time as the winner. Other coffee cyclists who reached the finish line with the winner's time were teammate Yeisson Casallas 24th, Daniel Muñoz of Drone Hopper Androni Giocattoli in the 26th, Andrés Mancipe in the 43rd, Edgar Andrés Pinzón in the 55th, Rafael Pineda was 57th, the three from Colombia Tierra de Atletes.
Finally Juan Carlos López of Astana entered the 60th place, followed by Cristian Rico in the 75th place by Colombia Tierra de Atletes and Juan Diego Alba of Drone Hopper Androni Giocattoli in the 78th, Nelson Soto entered the finish line with more than 3 minutes apart and placed 122nd and Jhonatan Chaves 129th to more than 23 minutes.
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