Place Name: Via San Rocco
Address: Via San Rocco 30, 65017 Penne Pescara, Italy
Details: April 16, 2025
The race from Tocco da Casauria to Penne is just 138KM but it packs a punch with 2,500M of elevation. The first main obstacle is the Forcella Di Acciano which is 5KM long at almost 10%. It tops out around 95KM from the finish and with a 15KM flat section after the descent, dropped riders should get back. After the 13KM, 4.5% Forca Di Penne at 40KM to go, the race goes from around 1,000M above sea level down to 220M when they enter San Pellegrino, but not before taking on the 5KM climb of Vestea. The road kicks up one last time through San Pellegrino up to the Medieval town of Penne for the finish, a 3.5KM climb at 5% average. We should see time gaps but the climb is steady so sitting in the wheels will be a benefit.
The weather was beautifully warm for an early Spring day in Pescara. There was another big fight to get in the break and in the end, it was just two riders who made it, Samuele Zoccarato of Polti-VisitMalta and Simone Petilli of Intermarché-Wanty. Zoccarato scored maximum points atop the Forcella Di Acciano and will take the Mountains Jersey going into tomorrow. The gap was just 1 minute 30 seconds with 65KM to go and were being aggressively held by UAE-XRG. The two leaders lost 30 seconds on the descent as the peloton continued their chase because, just like yesterday, there was a bonus second available at the Intermediate Sprint for third. Petilli rolled through first, uncontested, with Zoccarato in second. Damien Howson of Q36.5 went long from the bunch and looked to have third place sealed up but Stephen Williams of Israel-Premier Tech jumped and closed a fairly large gap to Howson, pipping him on the line in defense of George Bennett's GC position.
The gap continued to fall as they started climbing the Forca Di Penne. Petilli dropped from the break with 45KM to go, about 5KM from the top. Tudor Pro Cycling rode the majority of the climb at a steadier pace which allowed Zoccarato to hold his advantage at 1 minute by the top. The race settled into a holding pattern on the descent until the start of the Vestea climb with 16.5KM to go. Zoccarato was caught one kilometer later as UAE-XRG started riding harder but there were still around 50 riders in the group at the top.
Polti-VisitMalta led the bunch down to San Pellegrino with 3.5KM to go to the start of the climb to Penne. A large group was still together until 1.7KM from the line when a Q36.5 rider put in an attack. It was followed and shut down but Ivo Oliveira of UAE-XRG countered and went off solo. Georg Zimmermann of Intermarché-Wanty tried to get on the wheel but was stuck in the middle and caught by the bunch with 700M remaining. Tudor Pro Cycling led the chase and closed the gap to within 100M at 400M to go but the road flattened and the chase ran out of road to catch Oliveira. Filippo Fiorelli of VF-Group Bardiani CSF-Faizanè led the reduced group of 23 riders in for second place, 4 seconds behind Oliveira, with Marco Brenner of Tudor Pro Cycling in third. With the time bonuses added in, Fiorelli took over the race GC by 2 seconds to Alessandro Covi and 8 seconds to Brenner in third place.
Tags: Il Giro d'Abruzzo, 2025, April, Stage 2, Il Giro d'Abruzzo 2025, Tocco da Casauria, Penne, Samuele Zoccarato, Simone Petilli, Damien Howson, Stephen Williams, Ivo Oliveira, Georg Zimmermann, Filippo Fiorelli, Marco Brenner