• #3: VALTOURNENCHE / BREUIL CERVINIA

Stage 4: AOSTA / VALGRISENCHE

The steep slopes of Valgrisenche and the stunning immensity of the dam of Beauregard made the fantastic scenario in which it took place the last stage of the 54th edition of the Giro Ciclistico Internazionale della Valle d’Aosta. After the start from Aosta, not a km of rest for the riders who had to cover 103 km and three KoMs before getting to the finish line, right along the renewed wall of the Valgrisenche dam. After the great efforts of last the days and with the GC which was almost clear, and with all the jersey on the shoulders of the respective owners, the race evolution becomes quite clear from the beginning. After five kilometres off the start a bunch of 16 fugitives, among whom there’s also Matteo Fabbro, takes a little advantage on the peloton. The BMC, team of the leader of GC let the situation go, controlling easily the race, with a gap shaking between 3 and 4 minutes. The first two KoMs of the day go to Edoardo Affini (the one of La Palud) and to Harm Vanhoucke (the one of Cerellaz), while both sprint catch go to Jeremy Defaye (In Arvier and Morgex). Then it’s time for the last climb towards Valgrisenche, with the KoM of Planaval, won by Alessandro Fedeli. It is along the tough ascent of Valgrisenche that the story of this stage has been written, where the final move has been played by Alessandro Fedeli and Harm Vanhoucke. The fight for the victory is won by the rider of Team Colpack who, in the last sector of the climb goes away to the breakaway’s mate and takes his solo win on the final line. Stage win to Fedeli, second the Belgian Vanhoucke and third the Briton Scott Davies. It is necessary to wait three minutes to see the winner of the overall classification of the Giro. This way the 54th edition of Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta can be archived with the triumph of the Russian Pavel Sivakov (winner, this year, also of the Giro d’Italia Under 23) who brings to success team BMC once again along the roads of Valle d’Aosta after the 2016 victory with Kilian Frankiny, moreover he is the first Russian to step up on the top of the podium, 7 years after Petr Ignatenko. Behind him Bjorn Lambrecht at 02:05 (Lotto Soudal), and Michael Storer at 04:27 (Mitchelton Scott). In fifth position, after the Dann Niklas Egg (Denmark National Team), there’s the former yellow jersey Giovanni Carboni (Team Colpack). In the top ten also Covili (Team Palazzago), Cherkasov (Russia National Team), Knox (Team Wiggins), Vlasov (Russia National Team) and Colombo (Team Palazzago). Other jerseys: the white one to Vadim Pronskiy (Astana), the green polka dot jersey to Massimo Rosa (Team Hoppla), the redo ne to Andrea Montagnoli (Team Hoppla), the blue one to Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal). Teams’ Classification is of Lotto Soudal.

The stage in videos

The stage in pictures