Caleb Ewan sprinted to his first victory in Ineos Grenadiers colours on the opening stage of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, sprinting to an easy win at the end of the 174.5km stage to Bondeno.
The Australian, logging his first race day for the British team following a move from Jayco-AlUla over the winter, received a perfect lead-out from his teammates, who had controlled the race for much of the day.
What was the 64th victory of his career came well clear of Oded Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jason Tesson (TotalEnergies), who only just about managed to clear the Ineos lead-out Ben Swift in the sprint.
Ewan will now don the first leader’s green-and-red jersey of the race heading into the hilly 164km second stage to Sogliano al Rubicone on Wednesday.
The stage, a pan-flat run from Ferrara to Bondeno, marked the opening of the race's 40th edition. At the start of the day, a five-man break ventured out into the lead.
Carlos Samudio (Solution Tech-Vini Fantini) was joined in the move by Baptiste Huyet (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Kevin Pezzo Rosola (General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia), Matteo Zurlo (SC Padovani Polo Cherry Bank), and Dominik Amann (Vorarlberg).
Back in the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers took control at the front, limiting the break's advantage to two minutes.
The stage was all flat, barring a 100-metre hill coming after 36km. The day's only challenge would provide the first mountain classification leader of the race, with Pezzo Rosola leading the break across the line to take a single point and with it the green jersey overnight.
The remainder of the day provided little action, with the break racing up the road with a solid two-minute gap to the peloton. That advantage only started to come down within the final 40km when Israel-Premier Tech and Jayco-AlUla joined Ineos at the front of the peloton.
At 30km to go, at the second passage of the finish line, the break held an advantage of 1:20 on the peloton, with TotalEnergies and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè also joining the fray in the chase.
Meanwhile, Pezzo Rosola, his job for the day already done, dropped back to the peloton to leave four men out front. In his absence, the gap to the chase group fell under a minute as the race hit the final 20km.
Amann was the next to drop back with 16km to run, though at that point TotalEnergies had reduced the gap to 15 seconds. 4km later, the break was finished, with Zurlo lasting a touch longer than his companions.
The final 5km saw Ineos back on the front, while Israel-Premier Tech, Soudal-QuickStep, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG also organised themselves for the final.
None of the teams could hold a candle to Ineos in the final run to the line, however, with the squad once again taking control at the front with an organised lead-out train to deliver Ewan to the line. The 30-year-old had no rivals in the sprint finish, blasting home well clear of anyone else to score a dominant victory.
Caleb Ewan celebrates his first win in Ineos Grenadiers colours
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel, and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
