photo credits @ Milano-Torino
Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed this year’s Milano-Torino, after the Italian rider attack with 30km to go, ultimately cruising to victory with a 7-second gap over the chase.
Bora Hansgrohe led the pursuit, later coming within 8-seconds of Bettiol. But, the EF Education-EasyPost rider dug deep during the final 3km to stretch his lead back out to double digits, while Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) attacked after the German squad ran out of steam, reducing Bettiol’s gap to just six seconds.
However, Bettiol navigated the last few twists of the course with precision, seizing the day’s honors with enough of a margin to celebrate with his arms in the air.
“I didn’t expect to go so fast for so long,” Alberto said. “I expected a bunch of riders behind [to follow my attack] but in the end it was really tough. I didn’t plan to suffer so much in Milano-Torino but I’m really proud to win today. For the team it’s important because it sends to my teammates and to the staff an extra motivation for the upcoming races.”
Race Highlights
Marco Murgano (Team Corratec – Vini Fantini), Marcel Camprubí (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) marked the day’s early breakaway effort, with the escapees later opening up a sizable advantage of four minutes over the peloton.
From there, the trio’s lead would fluctuate along the mostly flat, first 90km, before they were reined in with just under 40km to race.
In the meantime, former winner Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) abandoned the race due to illness, with his team later confirming on social media that it was related to gastrointestinal problems.
Back up front, UAE Emirates took over the lead as the peloton reached the climb to Prascorsano, putting many sprinters in difficulty as the road kicked up.
It was on the Prascorsano where Bettiol made his winning attack, quickly launching away from the pack, a move that was responded to by Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates). But, the young neo-pro proved no match for the seasoned Italian.
Bettiol’s descending skills would see him eke out his advantage to over 40 seconds as Bora-Hansgrohe now took over at the front.
Gianluca Brambilla (Q36.5) later pushed the pace with Rubio and Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech) on his wheel, cutting Bettiol’s advantage by half, while Bob Jungels (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lutsenko sped away from the tiring chase group.
However, these moves would amount to nothing during the final run into Salasso, as Bettiol continued to keep the peloton at bay.
Despite the peloton having him in its sight, small attacks from behind during the last 3km made no real impact Bettiol’s advantage, who managed to cling to a slight lead until the finish, with Christen and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) grabbing second and third spots on the podium.
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