Conti rider Filippo D'Aiuto surprises sprinters with late attack in Settimana Coppi e Bartali

Filippo D'Aiuto emerged as the surprising winner of the second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. The Italian rider from the continental team General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia stayed ahead of the peloton after an attack in the final kilometers. Matteo Moschetti sprinted shortly after to claim second place. D'Aiuto is also the new race leader.

The second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali was, on paper, the easiest of the race. The middle section included a tough hilly zone, but the finale was flat. In the last sixty kilometers, the riders faced only one small climb. A chance for the sprinters?

Visma rider Goszczurny loses polka dot jersey
Danny van Poppel was considered one of the main favorites in that scenario, but the Dutch champion abandoned early in the stage, for reasons still unclear. Meanwhile, a breakaway of four riders had formed. King of the Mountains jersey holder Patryk Goszczurny (Visma | Lease a Bike) tried to bridge solo but got caught in the chasse patate. His closest challenger in the mountains classification, Kevin Pezzo Rosola (General Store - Essegibi - F.Lli Curia), was with the group. The Italian would collect enough points to take the lead.

The four escapees still held a lead of about two minutes after the hilly section. However, under the chase efforts of XDS Astana, EF Education-EasyPost, INEOS Grenadiers, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, the peloton gradually closed in. With 25 kilometers to go, the attackers were caught, but one of them, Renato Favero (Biesse-Carrera-Premac), still had energy left. Five kilometers after the regrouping, he attacked again.

Plenty of action in the finale
Favero was joined by two fresh riders: Alexandre Balmer (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta). The three quickly built a gap of over fifty seconds. INEOS Grenadiers and Jayco AlUla, the teams of leader Kévin Vauquelin and runner-up Mauro Schmid respectively, had to chase hard. Balmer was only ten seconds behind in the general classification. The combination of high pace and crosswinds caused splits to form. Eight riders broke away from the rest.

Laurance had one teammate with him, Development rider Milkias Maeke. The rest of the group consisted of Giavonni Aleotti (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step), and no fewer than four riders from Jayco AlUla: Alessandro Covi, Davide De Pretto, Hamish McKenzie, and Mauro Schmid, the runner-up from the opening stage. They rode straight to the breakaway, but not long after, the rest of the peloton returned. Would we then get a sprint anyway?

D'Aiuto pulls off a surprise
Not if Filippo D'Aiuto had anything to do with it. The rider from the modest General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia launched a solo attack four kilometers from the finish. A hopeless effort, you might think, but to everyone's surprise, D'Aiuto held on. He crossed the line first with a considerable margin. Shortly after, Matteo Moschetti sprinted to second place, and Tommaso Bessega (Polti VisitMalta) finished third.