Philip Deignan has rounded off the five-day Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy with some attacking riding on the penultimate stage that put him into the GC lead on the road and very nearly brought him victory in the climbers’ classification.
The Unitedhealthcare rider was among a group of five that went clear over the climbs on Friday’s stage, with the quintet gaining five minutes on the peloton at one point. Deignan looked strong from the time the move went clear just 16km into the 159km stage into Pavullo, taking maximum points on the first climb to the day.
He was the best placed of the five on GC, just 1:14 down on race leader Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp), putting the Irishman into the overall leader’s jersey on the road. However, with the time gaps throughout the GC still very tight, there were too many teams with too much to lose if the escape was to be allowed to ride away with the day’s spoils.
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An organised chase behind saw the peloton spilt for a period with leader Benedetti getting caught out in one split, only heightening the already frantic activity in the bunch. It meant Deignan and the four others up the road were reeled in with just under 50km remaining.
Crucially for the Irishman, there was still one categorised climb remaining where if he had picked up even third over the top out of the five-man escape he would have wrapped up victory in the climbers classification instead of eventually having to settle for third.
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When his escape was caught on Friday’s stage, another six-man group went clear on the final climb and stayed away to contest the finish. Victory went to Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD) ahead of Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) and Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp). That group gained more than 1:20 on most of the field, meaning Huzarski assumed the lead on GC from his team mate Benedetti.
Deignan was to finish 35th on the stage at 1:37; but still in the top forty riders, behind whom there were much more significant time gaps. That ride moved him up nearly twenty places on GC to 28th, 2:51 down.
On yesterday, Saturday’s, final 14km TT stage Deignan finished in 53rd place, 1:04 down on winner Jan Barta (Team NetApp), who won the race outright ahead of team mate and overnight GC leader Huzarski.
Deignan maintained his 28th place on GC, with no change to his third place in the climbers’ classification.
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