Description
October 6, 2022
Gran Piemonte 2022 – Omegna – Beinasco : 198 km
This one-day race marks the second in a series of three Italian Classics – Gran Piemonte,
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October 6, 2022
Gran Piemonte 2022 – Omegna – Beinasco : 198 km
This one-day race marks the second in a series of three Italian Classics – Gran Piemonte, Milano-Torino and Il Lombardia – known by the locals as the Trittico di Autunno, or the Autumn Treble. The race is held in the hilly Piedmont region of northwest Italy, a region whose Latin name translates to ‘at the foot of the mountains’. Understandably this race is characterised by its hills, with the lumps and bumps around Piedmont often deciding the winner of this race. The route has changed from year to year, with the organisers orchestrating races for both the sprinters and the climbers, that’s why riders. This year’s edition of Gran Piemonte, with its 1,500m of climbing, looks like another golden opportunity for a sprinter to etch their name onto its honours list, just like Walls did last year. With the season nearing its close and several sprinters still searching for a big, one-day win, we’re guaranteed an action-packed race.
Iván García Cortina (Movistar) sprinted to victory at Gran Piemonte, the Spaniard beating Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) in a finish shorn of the top sprint favourites.
García Cortina scored his first win in over two years, proving the quickest finisher from a select group of around 40 riders who had split away from the peloton following the day’s only real difficulty, the climb of Il Pilonetto, at 58km from the finish.
Despite a spirited chase from the likes of Jumbo-Visma and BikeExchange-Jayco, it wasn’t to be for the pure sprinters, with the split group comfortably out front thanks to hard work from Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert in particular.
The Belgian team, along with EF Education-EasyPost, led the way into the final kilometre, though they’d have nothing to show for their efforts at the line as García Cortina jumped on Vuillermoz’s wheel up the left-hand side of the road before blasting past the Frenchman, as well as Mohorič and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), who were doing battle on the right.
“It’s my first victory after two years in this team. I feel so happy,” García Cortina said after his win. “It wasn’t a good moment sometimes, but I kept fighting and finally I could get a victory. It’s really nice. We have no problems with the points but it’s still always nice.
“After the last race I was feeling super good. I had the legs. With the climb I knew it can be a tricky part and it could break the group. That happened and then it was full gas. In the sprint, I could do it.
“Not tactical,” he added, referring to the manner of his win. “I was quite far back in the corner but I knew the group wasn’t so big and that I could pass and take the victory.”
How it unfolded
The changeable Gran Piemonte – some years boasting a route for the climbers and others one for the sprinters – was firmly the latter this year, the extended 198km route concluding with another flat finish after last year’s sprint shootout won by Matthew Walls (Bora-Hansgrohe).
However, as the race does year on year, the start and finish towns were refreshed, with a start in Omegna, close to Lago Maggiore in Piemonte’s north, leading to a finish in Beinasco, west of Turin.
A singular major difficulty stood between the sprinters and another chance at victory, the 3.3km, 8% climb of Il Pilonetto at 58km from the line.
Despite the lack of obvious chances for breakaway success, a five-man move nonetheless gave it a go after 5km of racing.
Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), often seen in the break at the Tour de France, was in the move, the American accompanied out front by Kamil Małecki (Lotto Soudal), Andrea Pietrobon (Eolo-Kometa), Marco Tizza (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-WB).
The peloton was fine letting the quartet get away, though Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck) hoped to make it five in the lead, attempting a solo bridging effort.
The Austrian would, however, fall short in his efforts, getting caught 20km into the race during the early hilly section.
It wasn’t long before QuickStep-AlphaVinyl and Jumbo-Visma, riding for the sprint hopes of Mark Cavendish and Olav Kooij, respectively, took over pacemaking duties at the head of the peloton and held the break to an advantage of four minutes or so.
Following the establishment of both the breakaway and the teams in charge of the peloton, there would be little action of note as, for kilometre after kilometre, the riders raced across the flatlands of central Piemonte.
By the time the riders reached the climb at Il Pilonetto, the gap to the break had reached 3:30, and an acceleration on the way up – with Alpecin-Deceuninck and EF Education-EasyPost taking the initiative – took that down further still, to just over a minute.
As the sprint favourites dropped from the peloton, so too did Pietrobon and Tizza, leaving two in the lead as several riders – Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) among them – attempted to get away. The move, and the high pace before it, had split the peloton, with a smaller group of 44 having branched off the front as Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert and Israel-Premier Tech pushed the pace.
Jorgenson and Małecki were duly swept up just outside the 30km to go mark, while back in the second group BikeExchange-Jayco and Jumbo-Visma were among the teams trying to claw back a gap which had grown to 45 seconds.
Despite the strength of the chase, however, there wouldn’t be a regrouping before the finish, and in fact the lead group had only increased their advantage as they hit the final 10km, with EF Education-EasyPost and Bora-Hansgrohe also committed in their work.
The chase group finally called it a day just under 5km from the finish, meaning there’d be a surprise winner on a day suited to the fastmen.
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert and Education-EasyPost were in charge in the final kilometres despite an attempt to disrupt the situation by Pieter Serry (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl). EF’s Powless took on lead-out duties into the final kilometre before Serry’s teammate Declercq took over.
Powless’ man, impromptu sprinter Bettiol, made the initial jump on the left with Mohorič, but both were powerless against the quick finisher García Cortina, who sped past to secure the third win of his career.
Results :
 sprinted to victory at Gran Piemonte, the Spaniard beating Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) in a finish shorn of the top sprint favourites.
García Cortina scored his first win in over two years, proving the quickest finisher from a select group of around 40 riders who had split away from the peloton following the day’s only real difficulty, the climb of Il Pilonetto, at 58km from the finish.
Despite a spirited chase from the likes of Jumbo-Visma and BikeExchange-Jayco, it wasn’t to be for the pure sprinters, with the split group comfortably out front thanks to hard work from Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert in particular.
The Belgian team, along with EF Education-EasyPost, led the way into the final kilometre, though they’d have nothing to show for their efforts at the line as García Cortina jumped on Vuillermoz’s wheel up the left-hand side of the road before blasting past the Frenchman, as well as Mohorič and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), who were doing battle on the right.
“It’s my first victory after two years in this team. I feel so happy,” García Cortina said after his win. “It wasn’t a good moment sometimes, but I kept fighting and finally I could get a victory. It’s really nice. We have no problems with the points but it’s still always nice.
“After the last race I was feeling super good. I had the legs. With the climb I knew it can be a tricky part and it could break the group. That happened and then it was full gas. In the sprint, I could do it.
“Not tactical,” he added, referring to the manner of his win. “I was quite far back in the corner but I knew the group wasn’t so big and that I could pass and take the victory.”
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
The changeable Gran Piemonte – some years boasting a route for the climbers and others one for the sprinters – was firmly the latter this year, the extended 198km route concluding with another flat finish after last year’s sprint shootout won by Matthew Walls (Bora-Hansgrohe).
However, as the race does year on year, the start and finish towns were refreshed, with a start in Omegna, close to Lago Maggiore in Piemonte’s north, leading to a finish in Beinasco, west of Turin.
A singular major difficulty stood between the sprinters and another chance at victory, the 3.3km, 8% climb of Il Pilonetto at 58km from the line.
Despite the lack of obvious chances for breakaway success, a five-man move nonetheless gave it a go after 5km of racing.
Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), often seen in the break at the Tour de France, was in the move, the American accompanied out front by Kamil Małecki (Lotto Soudal), Andrea Pietrobon (Eolo-Kometa), Marco Tizza (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-WB).
The peloton was fine letting the quartet get away, though Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck) hoped to make it five in the lead, attempting a solo bridging effort.
The Austrian would, however, fall short in his efforts, getting caught 20km into the race during the early hilly section.
It wasn’t long before QuickStep-AlphaVinyl and Jumbo-Visma, riding for the sprint hopes of Mark Cavendish and Olav Kooij, respectively, took over pacemaking duties at the head of the peloton and held the break to an advantage of four minutes or so.
Following the establishment of both the breakaway and the teams in charge of the peloton, there would be little action of note as, for kilometre after kilometre, the riders raced across the flatlands of central Piemonte.
By the time the riders reached the climb at Il Pilonetto, the gap to the break had reached 3:30, and an acceleration on the way up – with Alpecin-Deceuninck and EF Education-EasyPost taking the initiative – took that down further still, to just over a minute.
As the sprint favourites dropped from the peloton, so too did Pietrobon and Tizza, leaving two in the lead as several riders – Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) among them – attempted to get away. The move, and the high pace before it, had split the peloton, with a smaller group of 44 having branched off the front as Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert and Israel-Premier Tech pushed the pace.
Jorgenson and Małecki were duly swept up just outside the 30km to go mark, while back in the second group BikeExchange-Jayco and Jumbo-Visma were among the teams trying to claw back a gap which had grown to 45 seconds.
Despite the strength of the chase, however, there wouldn’t be a regrouping before the finish, and in fact the lead group had only increased their advantage as they hit the final 10km, with EF Education-EasyPost and Bora-Hansgrohe also committed in their work.
The chase group finally called it a day just under 5km from the finish, meaning there’d be a surprise winner on a day suited to the fastmen.
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert and Education-EasyPost were in charge in the final kilometres despite an attempt to disrupt the situation by Pieter Serry (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl). EF’s Powless took on lead-out duties into the final kilometre before Serry’s teammate Declercq took over.
Powless’ man, impromptu sprinter Bettiol, made the initial jump on the left with Mohorič, but both were powerless against the quick finisher García Cortina, who sped past to secure the third win of his career.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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