Giro della Toscana: Pavel Sivakov dispatches Richard Carapaz to win alone

Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) came out on top at the Giro della Toscana, ripping the race up on the final ascent of Monte Serra before picking off Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in the final couple of kilometres.

The Frenchman, who made a quick turnaround after placing runner-up at Sunday's GP de Montréal in Canada, looked the strongest rider out there as he cracked two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on Monte Serra (9.3km at 6.6%).

Pogačar linked up with his teammate Felix Grossschartner, who later went clear on the run-in to claim the final podium spot.

© Sprint Cycling Agency

Tadej Pogačar wasn't at his best at the Giro della Toscana

Carapaz was the only rider who was able to stay within touching distance of Sivakov on the second of the two ascents of Monte Serra, but he was put to the sword on a motorway bridge on the outskirts of Pontedera.

With 1.4km remaining, he eased off as he led through a roundabout, and Sivakov pounced, launching a vicious attack onto the bridge, the final kicker of the course. He was quickly clear, and Carapaz couldn't rectify the situation as Sivakov held his power and held his gap through the final couple of bends.

The true selections had been made on Monte Serra, tackled twice as the central difficulty of the Italian one-day race. With Davide Formolo also in the thick of it, UAE Team Emirates appeared to possess the numerical advantage, but Sivakov was simply stronger.

First Formolo dropped, leaving Sivakov, Pogačar, Carapaz, and Grossschartner as a leading quartet going into the final kilometre of the difficult ascent. Then Grossschartner started to fall away, but as Sivakov really turned the screw it was panic stations as Pogačar went after him but couldn't follow.

He couldn't even stay with Carapaz as the Ecuadorian caught him and passed him, suggesting Pogačar is in a rare dip below his top form as he makes his comeback from Worlds and builds up to Il Lombardia.

Sivakov took a lead of 10 seconds on Carapaz over the top of the climb with 29km to go, while Pogačar followed 10 seconds further back, and Grossschartner not far off. On the descent, there was a regrouping, with Carapaz reaching Sivakov to form a leading duo, and the UAE pair linked up to form a chasing duo.

Despite the team alliance, the front two worked well together and managed to maintain their advantage, and their task became easier when Pogačar relented on a kicker with 11km to go and left Grossschartner to go it alone.

Going into the finale, Carapaz was perhaps expecting a sprint, or at least wasn't expecting Sivakov to attack him through that roundabout, but it was a canny move that was backed up by strong legs.

Carapaz crossed the line four seconds down, while Grossschartner rolled in at 45 seconds, before Pogačar pipped Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) and Formolo to fourth place.