Stan Van Tricht (Alpecin Deceuninck) won the Coppa Bernocchi one-day race in northern Italy after being part of the 155km breakaway.
The 25-year-old Belgian was still strong when other riders joined the attack and then played the finale perfectly to take his first career victory.
Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), who was also one of the first riders to attack, was caught with just a kilometre to go. Late attacker Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) was closed down and then Van Tricht closed the gap on Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) to stay on the front and win.
Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R) was second and Roger Adrià (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was third. Powless was fourth.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) tried to cross to the attack with 80 km to go but was chased down by Primož Roglič's Red Bill-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates. He and the other big-name riders finished in the peloton at 1:27, perhaps thinking about Tuesday's Tre Valli Varesine, when they face Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
Van Tricht has still to ride a Grand Tour after two seasons with Soudal Quick-Step and this year at Alpecin Deceuninck but clearly has the speed and tactical experience for one-day races.
"It was a difficult season but I know I'd found the legs in the last few weeks. Then today I rode a perfect race by being in the breakaway. At the end, I had to be smart, make sure I stayed with the group and then go for the sprint," he explained.
"I was in the front because there were strong teams attacking. It was a strong break and we could ride away and we knew we could go far, especially with the rain, which makes it better for the breakaway.
"I knew that I perhaps had the best sprint in the group but it's difficult with the guys coming from behind. I had a good wheel on Roger Adrià and then I saw Powless go and I knew I had to react immediately."
How it unfolded
The Coppa Bernocchi is the second race of the 'Trittico Lombardo' series that ends with Tuesday's Tre Valli Varesine. The best rider of the three races traditionally wins a diamond as a special prize.
The 105th edition of the Coppa Bernocchi started in Legnano with a ride north and then seven laps of the Valle Olona circuit before a fast ride back to the finish in Legnano.
The attacks came as soon as the race director's car accelerated away. Lemmen was one of the first riders to attack and was part of the first real break after 15km. Van Tricht was also hunting for an opportunity, as were Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Pierre Latour (Total Energies) and Alessandro Pinarello (VF Bardiani Csf Faizanè).
The peloton let them go and the five opened a five-minute gap as they began the seven laps of the Valle Olona circuit to the east of Milan Malpensa airport. The 17km circuit included the Piccolo Stelvio and Caramamma climbs, with the local crowds gathering on the hairpins of the Piccolo Stelvio.
During the fourth climb of Piccolo Stelvio, with 80 km to race, Evenepoel made a surprise attack to try to cross to the breakaway after his Soudal Quick-Step teammates massed on the front and split the peloton.
Mauri Vansevenant managed to go with him and Marc Hirschi and Pavel Sivakov joined (UAE Team Emirates) them. Their gap to the break was down to 2:40 at the summit of the Piccolo Stelvio, with the peloton at 3:00.
However, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe missed the move and so chased at speed. When the big-name quartet was caught, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe sent Adrià in a counter-attack and Sivakov, Baudin and Powless joined him.
On the last climb of the Piccolo Stelvio, Lemmen attacked alone, opening a gap on the survivors of the break, with Adrià, Sivakov, Baudin and Powless at 55 seconds.
The chasers eventually came together with 27 km to race, creating a chase of six, with Pinarello and Van Tricht surviving the high-speed surges by Adrià, Sivakov, Baudin and Powless. The peloton was at almost two minutes and so with no chance of victory.
Lemmen used his time-trialling prowess to hold off the well-organised chase. The gap was just 20 seconds with 15km to go and 13 seconds with five kilometres to go but Lemmen refused to give up and briefly seemed to have a chance of victory.
The rising road to the last kilometre proved too much for Lemmen and he was caught as they turned a corner under the flamme rouge. Sivakov tried a late attack but was soon pulled back. Then Powless tried his hand inside the final five hundred metres.
The American got a gap but Van Tricht took a risk, chased him down and then powered on to lead out the sprint. Nobody could match his speed so Van Tricht celebrated his well-deserved first professional victory in Legnano.
Results
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