Image 1 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 2 of 46 Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Enrico Gasparotto chat (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 3 of 46 Guy Niv (Israel Cycling Academy) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 4 of 46 Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 5 of 46 Race leader Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 6 of 46 Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 7 of 46 Fausto Masnada (Androni-Sidemec) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 8 of 46 The finer details of the Israel Cycling Academy kit (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 9 of 46 Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 10 of 46 Dan Craven (Israel Cycling Academy) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 11 of 46 José Manuel Díaz (Israel Cycling Academy) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 12 of 46 Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) won a Vespa on the stage (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 13 of 46 Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) enjoying his podium time (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 14 of 46 The riders approach the finish line (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 15 of 46 Egan Bernal leads the breakaway (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 16 of 46 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 17 of 46 Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 18 of 46 Ildar Arslanov (Gazprom – Rusvelo) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 19 of 46 Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 20 of 46 Grega Bole (Bahrain-Merida) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 21 of 46 Andrea Garosio (Bahrain-Merida) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 22 of 46 Danilo Napolitano (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) and his son ride to sign on (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 23 of 46 Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) takes the media strip option (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 24 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) wins in Pontedera (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 25 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) takes the win (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 26 of 46 Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 27 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) drives the breakaway with Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 28 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) edges out Egan Bernal and Frederik Backaert (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 29 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 30 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) heads to victory (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 31 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) drives the breakaway (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 32 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 33 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) on the podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 34 of 46 Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) in the breakaway (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 35 of 46 Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) attacks (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 36 of 46 Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 37 of 46 Roy Golstein (Cycling Academy) in the early move (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 38 of 46 The Giro della Toscana (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 39 of 46 Mark Cavendish in the bunch (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 40 of 46 The breakaway in Tuscany (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 41 of 46 Dimension Data at the front (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 42 of 46 Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) back in action in Italy (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 43 of 46 Stage 1 of the Giro della Toscana (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 44 of 46 Stage 1 of the Giro della Toscana (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 45 of 46 Stage 1 of the Giro della Toscana (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 46 of 46 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) wins in Pontedera (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) won the opening stage of the 2017 Giro della Toscana, escaping the peloton alongside Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Egan Bernal (Androni-Sidermec), and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) in the final 25 kilometres before winning the four-up sprint.

Bernal crossed the line second, having followed Cummings down the left-hand side of the finishing straight, while Backaert took third place with Nibali on his wheel on the right-hand side.

Nibali's teammate Sonny Colbrelli led home the peloton for fifth place half a minute later.

For Cummings, there was vindication, perhaps, for turning down one of Great Britain's two time trial places at the recent World Championships in order to focus on the autumn racing in Italy. The Giro della Toscana, something of a home race for Cummings given he has lived in the Tuscany region for nearly a decade, offered two days of racing, though it was thought he might have to wait until the second day and its summit finish to try for a victory.

The opening stage in Pontedera - based on three laps of a 54km circuit and three laps of a 7.7km finishing circuit - was undulating but predicted to culminate in a bunch sprint, with Dimension Data bringing Mark Cavendish and Ryan Gibbons.

An early breakaway duly formed, featuring Roy Goldstein (Israel Cycling Academy), Josu Zabala (Caja Rural), Maximilian Kuen (Tirol Cycling Team) and Michele Scartezzini (Sangemini-MG. Kvis), and they opened up a lead of 2:30 at the half-way point, though it would never increase thereafter.

Goldstein was the first to be dropped, followed by Scartezzini, though a three-man counter attack from Fausto Masnada (Androni-Sidemec), Ilia Koshevoy (Wilier-Selle Italia) and Iuri Filosi (Nippo-Vini Fantini) meant there were five out front with just under 50km to go.

They were caught shortly before the start of the finishing laps, and Backaert wasted no time in attacking, with Cummings, Nibali and Bernal responding swiftly. They took 20 seconds onto the finishing laps and while the peloton split into two behind, they increased that to 43 seconds by the next crossing of the finish line.

UAE Team Emirates and Gazprom-Rusvelo were prominent in the chase, but they failed to eat into the gap as the quartet took the bell. With around half a minute going into the final few kilometres, they had to keep working together all the way to the finishing straight, whereupon Cummings delivered the telling kick.

The race continues and concludes on Wednesday with a more hilly 165km stage that features a double ascent to Volterra in the finale.

Full Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 4:21:39 2 Egan Bernal (Col) Androni Giocattoli 3 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 5 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:12 6 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 7 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 8 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 9 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 10 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 11 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 12 Matteo Busato (Ita) Wilier Triestina 13 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani CSF 14 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 15 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 16 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 17 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 18 Simone Velasco (Ita) Bardiani CSF 19 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 20 Nicola Gaffurini (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis 21 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 22 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 23 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 24 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 25 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 26 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 27 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 28 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 29 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy 30 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF 31 Brice Feillu (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 32 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates 33 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 34 Federico Canuti (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord 35 Rodolfo Torres (Col) Androni Giocattoli 36 Florian Vachon (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 37 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 38 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 39 Ettore Carlini (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord 40 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 41 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 42 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 43 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:21 44 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 45 Christopher Butler (USA) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 46 Ivan Ramiro Sosa (Col) Androni Giocattoli 47 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 48 Umberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 49 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 50 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 51 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 52 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:00:27 53 Simone Antonini (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 54 Patrick Gamper (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 0:03:00 55 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 56 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 57 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 58 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 59 Darwin Atapuma (Col) UAE Team Emirates 60 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 61 José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy 62 Simone Bernardini (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis 63 Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Wilier Triestina 64 Michele Gazzara (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis 65 Paolo Totò (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis 66 Yonder Godoy (Ven) Wilier Triestina 67 Maximilian Kuen (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 68 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 69 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro 70 Dan Craven (Nam) Israel Cycling Academy 71 Daniel Martinez (Col) Wilier Triestina 72 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 73 Oscar Pelegri Ferrandis (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 74 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 75 Dylan Page (Swi) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 76 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Tirol Cycling Team 77 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 78 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 79 Matthias Krizek (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 80 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 81 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data 82 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 83 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 84 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF 85 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 86 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 87 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:15 88 Niccolo' Salvietti (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis 0:06:40 89 Markus Wildauer (Aut) Tirol Cycling Team 90 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 91 Johann Van Zyl (RSA) Dimension Data 92 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina 93 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 94 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo - Vini Fantini 95 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 96 Enrico Salvador (Ita) Tirol Cycling Team 97 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis 98 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina 99 Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Wilier Triestina 100 Danilo Celano (Ita) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 101 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 102 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini 103 Marino Kobayashi (Jpn) Nippo - Vini Fantini 104 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 105 Josu Zabala (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 106 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data 107 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Wilier Triestina 108 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 109 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 110 Angelo Raffaele (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord 0:10:54 111 Angelo Vitiello (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord 0:11:50 DNF Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy DNF Pietro Di Genova (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord DNF Marcello Merlino (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord DNF Francesco Petrini (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord DNF Michele Scartezzini (Ita) Sangemini - Mg. K Vis DNS Nicolas Samparisi (Ita) D'Amico Utensilnord