27 Mar 2019
Strong start at Coppi Bartali
Related riders
Eddie Dunbar
Kenny Elissonde
Michal Golas
Diego Rosa
David de la Cruz
Dylan van Baarle
Coppi e Bartali stage 1a: Gatteo - Gatteo (97.8km). Coppi e Bartali stage 1b: Gatteo a mare - Gatteo (TTT)
Team Sky made a convincing start to Coppi e Bartali with second in the stage 1b team time trial after finishing safely in the bunch in a stage 1a sprint.
Diego Rosa crossed the line first in the TTT and is sixth overall, behind the winners of the 13.6km timed test, Mitchelton-Scott, who have Robert Stannard wearing the leader's jersey.
Team Sky recovered from a setback in the opening kilometre of the TTT, with Eddie Dunbar suffering a dropped chain to record the best provisional time, until Mitchelton-Scott took the lead which could not be beaten.
In stage 1a, strong work on the front of the peloton from Team Sky, in particular Michal Golas, helped catch the break and ensure a sprint finish, which was won by Emils Liepens (Wallonie-Bruxelles).
Diego Rosa crossed the line first in the TTT and is sixth overall, behind the winners of the 13.6km timed test, Mitchelton-Scott, who have Robert Stannard wearing the leader's jersey.
Team Sky recovered from a setback in the opening kilometre of the TTT, with Eddie Dunbar suffering a dropped chain to record the best provisional time, until Mitchelton-Scott took the lead which could not be beaten.
In stage 1a, strong work on the front of the peloton from Team Sky, in particular Michal Golas, helped catch the break and ensure a sprint finish, which was won by Emils Liepens (Wallonie-Bruxelles).
Oli Cookson
We decided not to wait as on such a short time trial you can lose a lot of time very quickly, so we did it with just five guys.
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DS Oli Cookson
"We’re very happy with the result as we lost Eddie on the second corner as he dropped his chain on a bumpy, cobbled surface. We decided not to wait as on such a short time trial you can lose a lot of time very quickly, so we did it with just five guys. So considering that, we were happy to lose just 10 seconds to Mitchelton-Scott in the TTT as they had a very strong lineup.
DS Oli Cookson
"We’re very happy with the result as we lost Eddie on the second corner as he dropped his chain on a bumpy, cobbled surface. We decided not to wait as on such a short time trial you can lose a lot of time very quickly, so we did it with just five guys. So considering that, we were happy to lose just 10 seconds to Mitchelton-Scott in the TTT as they had a very strong lineup.
"We did a recon yesterday where we came in a day early, sorted our order out and worked on how we would cope with one rider less. We also had a hotel at the start line so the to reduce travel and so the guys could get something to eat and rest before the TTT - it took a lot of planning.
“Our main objective for both stages 1a and 1b was to safeguard our GC hopes, and we took the initiative in the morning and controlled the race, because we have seen in previous years that a break can take a significant amounts of time on stage 1a.
“The stages that are coming will suit our guys and the guys did a splendid ride, we were 17 seconds faster than last year, so a good improvement and this puts us in a good place going forwards."
Stage 1b result
- Mitchelton-Scott 14:17
- Team Sky +10”
- Gazprom-Rusvelo +19”
- Hagens Berman Axeon +24”
- Androni-Sedermec +33"
