Peron shows fighting spirit in GP Industria & Artigianato breakaway

10 March 2019

Race: GP Industria & Artigianato 2019

Start/Finish: Larciano/Larciano, Italy

Distance: 199.2 kilometers

Larciano, Italy — Andrea Peron flew the flag for Team Novo Nordisk this Sunday in the breakaway at GP Industria & Artigianato showing the #ChangingDiabetes jersey front and centre in the hard Italian one-day race.

After nearly one hour of unsuccessful breakaway attempts a group of seven riders were finally allowed to get away, amongst them Peron, who had been attentive at the front of the pack covering multiple moves.

Once they got the green light the escapees swiftly opened a gap of over five minutes but they were eventually reeled in as the race tackled the San Baronto climb (7.7 km at 3.8% average gradient) for the second time in the last circuit. Nevertheless, our fast Italian showed great form on home soil driving the pace at the front for more than 100 km.

The rain started to fall halfway through the race and almost immediately the crashes began peppering the peloton. Team Novo Nordisk was not immune to the incidents and Dutchman Brian Kamstra, who was making his season debut, went down on the descent from San Baronto. Finnish Joonas Henttala, was also struck by bad luck and hit the deck due to a collective crash with 30 km to go at a point where he was riding well positioned in the front group.

Frenchman Charles Planet, fresh off a stellar performance in UAE Tour, showed good form and rode strongly all day. Ultimately, the race was won by Maximilian Schachmann (Bora Hansgrohe) who out-sprinted Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli) after the two went clear in the last kilometrers.

Planet crossed the finishing line in 66th position, six minutes and nine seconds down on the winning time.

Andrea Peron:

“Today the plan was to try to be in the breakaway. Fortunately I chose the right move and got in the break after trying many times before. We worked really hard together in the front and I pushed myself to be able to show the team at the front. It was also good training looking ahead to the next challenges coming up.”

Charles Planet:

“I recovered well from UAE Tour and had really good legs today. This was a true test for me because UAE Tour was a really flat race while this one was really hilly. I felt good but the downhill sector today was really dangerous. The road was really slippery and there were a lot of crashes. I’m happy I could stay on my bike and finish the race. I was not far behind the first group and today was for sure a good test for me for Milano San Remo. We didn’t get a result today but I’m really confident with my shape for the next races”