Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) took his first race of the 2013 season as he attacked in the final kilometre of the first semitappa of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali in the town of Gatteo, close the the Italian Adriatic coast. After jumping clear, the 23-year-old Italian managed to hold off the charging peloton all the way to the finish, and crossed the line one second clear of the sprinters.
Sprinting into second place was Felline’s teammate Mattia Gavazzi, to give Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela a one-two on the stage, with Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthcare) taking third.
The 100.5km stage, which crossed the Emilia Romagna hinterland was characterised by a long solo break from Alessandro Mazzi (Utensilnord-Ora24.eu), who attacked after just a few kilometres. The 25-year-old Italian managed to open up a maximum lead of 5’12” by the 44th kilometre, before the combined efforts of UnitedHealthcare and Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela pulled him back.
Mazzi managed to take first place over the stage’s two climbs - the Sogliano al Rubicone and the Passo delle Siepi - to secure the mountains jersey, but was caught with just over 30km to go on the long run to the finish. Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela and UnitedHealthcare kept the pace high into the finish, but Felline managed to jump away in the final few hundred metres to foil the sprinters and take the stage.
A one second gap for Felline, as well as a six-second time bonus, gave the Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela rider the first leader’s jersey of the race, heading into the afternoon’s team time trial.
Result stage 1a
1. Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela
2. Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela @ 1s
3. Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
4. Filippo Baggio (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Fondriest
5. Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
6. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Team Astana
7. Kiel Reijen (USA) UnitedHealthcare Procycling
8. Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkovice
9. Marco Zamparella (Ita) Utensilnord-Ora24.eu
10. Sergey Shilov (Rus) Lokosphinx
Standings after stage 1a
1. Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela
2. Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela @ 3s
3. Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling @ 5s
4. Filippo Baggio (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Fondriest @ 7s
5. Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
6. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Team Astana
7. Kiel Reijen (USA) UnitedHealthcare Procycling
8. Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkovice
9. Marco Zamparella (Ita) Utensilnord-Ora24.eu
10. Sergey Shilov (Rus) Lokosphinx