The experienced Italian got in the mix with the peloton's fast men on Wednesday afternoon.
A medium-length stage took the pack from Fribourg to Delémont, on the second day of the Tour de Romandie. The riders faced four climbs, last two featuring on a tough circuit around the finishing town, which returned on the course after more than two decades, but that didn't stop five men from bolting clear soon after the start and establishing a six-minute lead over the bunch.
At the bottom of the penultimate hurdle of the day, the gap was still over three minutes, forcing the peloton to pick up the pace and set a fierce tempo which seriously whittled down the pack, leaving only around 50 riders in contention by the time they arrived on the slopes of the last ascent, Le Sommet.
Over the top of the climb, only Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) and Marco Minaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) were atill left at the front from the original breakaway, but their action came to an end on the fast downhill section to Delémont, where several riders – including Quick-Step Floors' Eros Capecchi – tried to foil the plans of those whose plans revolved around a bunch sprint.
Eventually, everything came down to a fast gallop, which saw Omar Fraile (Astana) beat Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) to the line. Same Capecchi carried the flag for our team, getting in the mix in this hectic finale and concluding the stage in tenth position, a result which makes him the best placed Quick-Step Floors rider in the general classification ahead of stage 2 (Delémont – Yverdon-les-Bains, 173.9 kilometers).
Photo credit: ©Michael Steele/ Getty Images
