Giro del Veneto: Dorian Godon wins tough uphill finish ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen

Dorian Godon of AG2R Citroën won the Giro del Veneto in a tricky uphill sprint that saw Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) boxed out, whilst Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling) and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Dstny) finished second and third, respectively.

The French rider had impressed on similar finishes in the spring Classics and his Giro del Veneto win had echoes of his victory at De Brabantse Pijl, with his powerful physique launching him to an eighth career victory.

It had been an enthralling final 30km at the Giro del Veneto, with the once six-rider breakaway being caught not far from the line, and a flurry of attacks failing to prevent the peloton from charging towards the Monte Berico and a group finish.

Lengthy battle for breakaway precedes dramatic finale

The day’s breakaway had taken 55km to go clear and it was not until the peloton hit the slopes of the first categorised climb that a six-rider move finally went clear, with a further seven categorised climbs promised in what would be a difficult 86th edition.

Brent Van Moer of Lotto Dstny was constantly on the attack both in the day's early phases, and the final kilometres as the break was being chased down. In the initial six-rider move, he was joined by Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Jonas Abrahamsen (Un-X Pro Cycling), Stan Dewulf (AG2R Citroën), Michael Belleri (Biesse - Carrera) and Davide De Cassan (Cycling Team Friuli ASD).

But as the race entered its final 30km, six had become four, with Belleri and De Cassan dropped. Only Abrahamsen in the breakaway was yet to take a professional victory, and experience paid dividends as the front group put up a brave fight to hold off the peloton.

However, it was not to be in the closing kilometres, with Israel-Premier Tech particularly boisterous at the front of the peloton to close the gap. They had Jakob Fuglsang and Domenico Pozzovivo in full flight, working on behalf of teammate Corbin Strong. However, whilst their pursuit of the breakaway was successful with 6.5km to go, they would end the day empty-handed.

On the final climb of the Monte Berico (1.9km at 4.4%), the peloton swamped back together after multiple attacks from the likes of Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny) and Florian Vermeersch.

Israel-Premier Tech were not to be seen at the front, but Vermeersch certainly was. The Belgian looked as though he might round Godon in the closing hundred metres, but the Frenchman's brute strength saw him take the win.

As for UAE Team Emirates, who had also contributed plenty of resources to the chase of the break, their leader Marc Hirschi was boxed in towards the end and prevented was opening up a true sprint until it was too late.