Joel Suter takes the peloton by surprise and rides to solo breakaway win on stage 2 of the Giro di Sicilia

Joel Suter took the peloton by surprise to and rode to an incredible solo win on stage 2 of the Giro di Sicilia. Having been in the early breakaway, Suter attacked solo and managed to hold off a charging pack by mere seconds.

Just 150 kilometres, stage 3 of the Giro di Sicilia from Enna to Terimini Imerese is notable for its extremely technical, 6.3% average, final 1.3km rise up to the finish line. Deciding the breakaway was the best option were a six-man group including Pierelis Belletta (Biesse - Carrera), Michele Berasi (General Store - Essegibi - F.Lli Curia), Roberto Carlos González (Mg.K Vis - Colors for Peace), Joel Suter (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Giacomo Garavaglia (Work Service - Vitalcare - Dynatek) and Edoardo Faresin (Zalf Euromobil Désirée Fior).

As the gap between the front group and the peloton, being powered by teams such as UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain - Victorious, dropped below a minute, Joel Suter attacked from the breakaway and rode clear on his lonesome.

Suter had a 55-second lead as the peloton flew through the 10km to-go banner and the rest of his breakaway members were all swept up by the bunch. This Swiss rider had given himself a great opportunity by that late attack and a bunch finish seemed by no means a formality.

5kms left and whilst the gap was dropping, Suter still had a 38-second advantage at the front of the race. As the race reached that final kick-up to the line the gap had been reduced to just 10 seconds. In a thrilling finale, Suter was visibly tiring, but the Swiss rider just had enough in the tank to hold off the peloton and take an incredible solo victory.

Filippo Fiorelli was best of the rest finishing 2nd ahead of Elia Viviani in 3rd.