Matthew Walls wins Gran Piemonte
Matt Walls (Bora-Hansgrohe) won Gran Piemonte in a bunch sprint in Borgosesia, beating Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka) and Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) to the line after a chaotic final kilometre.
The Olympic omnium champion held his nerve in a chaotic finale, where some fast men lost valuable ground while navigating a traffic island just past the flamme rouge. Walls was well positioned there, and he then had the nous to follow the wheel of Max Richeze (UAE Team Emirates) in the finishing straight before delivering a rasping sprint in the final 150m.
Nizzolo, who won this race in 2016 was able to make up some ground on Walls in the closing metres, but the 23-year-old kicked once again in sight of the line to claim his second victory on the road as a professional.
Kooij, who had to chase back on after a crash in the finale, placed an impressive third ahead of Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), while world under-23 silver medallist Biniam Ghirmay (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) took 5th in front of Jakub Mareczko (Vini Zabù).
"The boys did a really good job getting me towards the closing kilometres and I picked a good wheel. I came off and I had enough in the tank for the sprint," said Walls.
Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) was perhaps the favourite for victory, but the European champion made no impact in the sprint after being stalled in the final kilometre, while other contenders such as Ethan Hayter (Ineos) and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) were also effectively out of the running come the final 300 metres.
"They were all there coming towards the end, I saw my opportunity to go and I went for it," said Walls, who agreed that his track skills had helped him to pick his way through the peloton in the finale. "It was pretty hectic coming in towards the finish, there were a couple of crashes or something, but I think it helped a lot being able to position myself well in the bunch."
Walls' victory owed most, of course, to his striking turn of speed in the final 150 metres as he opened a gap that Nizzolo and Kooij simply could not close. The Oldham native has caught the eye on both road and track in 2021, from his assured debut at the Tour de la Provence in February to his omnium gold and Madison silver at the Tokyo Olympics.
He carried that track form into the final part of the season, notching up his first win for Bora-Hansgrohe on the final stage of the Tour of Norway.
"It's really big, it shows that I can perform on the top level on the road," Walls said. "I knew I could do it on the track after the Olympics. so it's nice to be able to do that on the road as well."
How it unfolded
When the cycling calendar was redrawn amid the coronavirus pandemic last year, Gran Piemonte took on a different guise, with RCS Sport pitching it as a dress rehearsal for Il Lombardia by routing it through the hills of the Lange, with George Bennett emerging victorious in Barolo.
This time out, the race returned to favouring the sprinters with a largely flat 169km route through from Rocca Canavese to Borgosesia. Yet even though the odds were stacked against the attackers, five volunteers emerged after a rapid opening, as Manuele Boaro (Astana-PremierTech), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), Marc Soler (Movistar), Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo) and Marco Frapporti (Vini Zabù) forged clear.
The quintet escaped after 15km but the pace never truly relented in the peloton behind and their advantage was never allowed to reach three minutes. The escapees covered some 49km in a very brisk opening hour, and the pace took its toll on Frapporti when they hit the day's stiffest obstacle, the steady climb towards La Serra after 60km.
Boaro, Moniquet, Soler and Skjelmose Jensen pressed on thereafter, but their advantage began to tumble after the midway point as a coalition of the sprinters' teams took control at the head of the peloton, with Cofidis and Qhubeka-NextHash prominent on behalf of Viviani and Nizzolo, respectively.
As the break's lead dwindled, Boaro attacked in an attempt to breathe new life into the move, but the escapees were caught with 28km remaining and the collaboration among the sprinters' teams ensured there would be no further attacks on the run-in, with Ineos to the fore on behalf of Ethan Hayter and Bahrain Victorious prominent in support of Colbrelli.
Kooij went down in a crash inside the final 20km, but the Dutchman quickly rejoined the bunch, and Jumbo-Visma's presence on the front was a sure sign that he would contest the inevitable sprint. Ineos, and Filippo Ganna in particular, were also keen to ensure a bunch sprint, while Qhubeka-NextHash took up the reins for Nizzolo inside the final 2km.
Road furniture just inside the final kilometre served to disrupt some of the sprinters, with Viviani among those to sit up, but Affini took over at the head of the bunch with a long turn on behalf of Kooij.
The experienced Richeze, meanwhile, was on hand to lead out the sprint for Trentin, but Walls showed nous beyond his years to mark the Argentinian's wheel, and he unfurled a crisp sprint to claim the spoils.
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