Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi
| Date | Early February |
|---|---|
| Region | Tuscany, Italy |
| English name | Grand Prix of the Etruscan Coast |
| Local name(s) | GP della Costa Etruschi (Italian) |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI Europe Tour |
| Type | One-day |
| Organiser | GS Emilia |
| First edition | 1996 |
| Editions | 22 (as of 2017) |
| First winner |
 Fabrizio Guidi (ITA)
|
| Most wins |
Alessandro Petacchi (ITA) (6 wins) |
| Most recent |
Diego Ulissi (ITA)
|
The Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi is a one-day professional cycling race between the towns of San Vincenzo and Donoratico on the Tuscany coast in Italy. The 193 kilometre long race takes place at the beginning of February and has now taken over from the Trofeo Laigueglia as the opening event of the Italian professional cycling season. It is ranked 1.1 on the UCI Europe Tour. The race has been dominated by Italians since its inception in 1996, with riders from that nation winning on 17 occasions, with an all Italian 1-2-3 happening 14 times out of the 21 editions of the race.
The Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi is a relatively new race by European cycling standards, coming into being in 1996. For the first six years of its existence it only carried the grading of a national event and was not included on the UCI calendar nor did it carry any ranking points. It was not until 2002 that it was included on the UCI calendar with a ranking of 1.3. Despite its lack of official status in its early days the race always drew a top class field composed of mostly Italian teams and continues to do so . The race came of age in 1998 when 25,000 people saw Tuscan sprinting ace Mario Cipollini win the race, the first of his two victories (he won also in 2000). Ukrainian rider Yuriy Metlushenko has also taken two victories in the event (in 2002 and 2004), however the record for the most victories in the race stands with Alessandro Petacchi who posted five victories in the six editions of the race between 2005 and 2010. His third victory in 2007 was his first pro victory for nine months after breaking his kneecap in the Giro d’Italia in May 2006.
The 2013 edition was originally cancelled due to financial problems; however, on 12 March 2013, during the presentation of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, the mayor of Castagneto Carducci announced that the Gran Premio Costa degli Etruschi would be raced on 21 September, as a preparation race for the 2013 UCI Road World Championships in Florence.
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