Julian Alaphilippe took victory on stage 2 of Tirreno Adriatico today on the same day his Deceuninck-QuickStep Irish team mate, Sam Bennett, won the stage at Paris-Nice.
But while Bennett's win was the culmination of a brilliant team performance, the win in Italy for Alaphilippe was marked by more drama.
Another of the Deceuninck-QuickStep team, João Almeida, attacked late on the hilly finale in Italy in a bid to win. And when it became clear just before the line he may be caught, Alaphilippe jumped early and stole a march on Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) and yesterday's stage winner Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma).
Alaphilippe timed his effort to perfection to get revenge on Van der Poel and reverse their finishing order at Strade Bianche last weekend; Alpahilippe winning today from Van der Poel, with Van Aert in 3rd place, all on the same time.
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The photographs that emerged of the finishing moment showed a delighted Alaphilippe coming over the line looking on at a frustrated Van der Poel, who passed him at high speed just after the chequered flag.
The only Irishman in the race, Ryan Mullen of Trek-Segafredo, was 127th on today's stage at 13:17.
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On the uphill finish into Chiusdino after 202km of racing, a breakaway group was still clear when the riders hit the 7.5km climb to the line.
That group contained some very big names in the shape of Almeida, Simon Yates (BikeExchange), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers).
However, they only had about 25 seconds in hand starting the climb and when Sivakov attacked close to the finish, Yates was spat out the back of the group.
With the remains of the peloton literally breathing down the necks of the breakaway in the final kilometre, Almeida seized his chance and attacked hard. However, while he surged forward impressively, the gap between him and the front of the bunch continue to close.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) led the charge up the final climb after Almeida; a strong showing by the Welshman that suggests he is in good condition.
Having clearly calculated that his team mate was not going to hang on and take the win, Alaphilippe made his move early; getting a jump on his rivals and sweeping past Almeida to win.
While Van der Poel and Van Aert finished strongly, Alaphilippe had gapped them by enough to hold them off, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) in 4th and Almedia fading to 7th.
Van Aert retains the race lead he took by winning the opening stage in a bunch sprint yesterday, with the top 35 riders overall all covered by just 14 seconds and the big climbs still to come.
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