Gran Trittico Lombardo 2020 [LAST 15 KM]

August 3, 2020

Gran Trittico Lombardo 2020 – Legnano – Varese : 199,7 km

The “Trittico Regione Lombardia” (Italian for “Lombardy Region Triptych”), usually also called Trittico Lombardo is a cycling competition which includes three cycling races held around the region of Lombardy in three consecutive days. These races are Tre Valli Varesine, Coppa Ugo Agostoni and Coppa Bernocchi, the winner having the best overall results in this three races. In 2020, as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic, the three races were united into one to form the Gran Trittico Lombardo.

Gorka Izagirre (Astana Pro Team) won the Gran Trittico Lombardo on a rain-soaked afternoon in Varese. The Basque escaped an elite leading group on the final lap to claim victory ahead of his teammate Alex Aranburu, who won the sprint for second in the chasing group ahead of Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Michael Kwiatkowski and Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo).

Trek-Segafredo were to the fore on behalf of Nibali on the finishing circuit in Varese, helping to peg back the early break and splinter the peloton, but it was Izagirre who emerged victorious after he attacked over the top of the climb of Montello on the final lap.

The Basque had the strength to open a gap and the nous to manage his advantage as Nibali, Kwiatkowski, Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team) et al marked one another behind. Izagirre established a maximum lead of 36 seconds, and he maintained much of that lead up the final ascent of the Salita dei Ronchi to secure a lone victory.

His teammate Aranburu, meanwhile, helped to police the chasers in the finale, and despite the presence of two Ineos and two CCC riders, they were unable to make any significant inroads into Izagirre’s buffer, and he came home 27 seconds clear of the chasers.

“It was a wet day, but it was a beautiful one too. It was a really hard race and this final circuit is very difficult. We had a small group get away and I managed to get a gap and then I was able to stay away alone,” said Izagirre.

“We’re all very happy because we worked well. [Fabio] Felline and [Matteo] Boaro did a good job. [Alexey] Lutsenko fell early in the race but it went well for us. We’re going well and we’re all happy with the result.”

The one-off Gran Trittico Lombardo replaced the triptych of the Coppa Bernocchi, Coppa Agostoni and Tre Valli Varesine on the revised UCI calendar, and its route combined elements of all three events, as it started in Legnano and passed through Lissone en route to a demanding finishing circuit around Varese.

The reduced bunch fragmented on the penultimate lap, with Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) very prominent in stretching things out at the front. At one point, the Italian even succeeded in slipping clear alone, though his challenge was ended by an untimely puncture shortly afterwards.

Come the bell with 13km remaining, there were twelve riders at the front, as the two survivors of the day’s early break – Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), and Quinten Hermans (Circus-Wanty Gobert) were joined by an elite group composed of Nibali, Kwiatkowski, Jhonatan Narvaez, Alessandro De Marchi, Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Louis Vervaeke (Alepcin-Fenix), Nicola Bagioli (Androni-Sidermec) and, of course, the Astana duo of Aranburu and Izagirre.

How it unfolded

Searing heat had conditioned Saturday’s Strade Bianche, but the Gran Trittico Lombardo gruppo was flagged away from Legnano in decidedly cooler temperatures and beneath slate grey skies. Much attention at the start had focused on Nibali, who had injured his hand in a fall on Saturday. He was cleared to race following an assessment in Turin on Sunday afternoon, and he would go on to showcase his form with an eye to Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia on the coming weekends.

The day’s first break forged clear shortly after the start, with Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), Anton Kuzmin (Gazprom Rusvelo), Raffaele Radice (Sangemini-Trevigiani Mg.Kvis), Quinten Hermans (Circus-Wanty Gobert) and Davide Baldacchini (Colpack Ballan) escaping after 8km.

That quintet quickly established a lead in excess of nine minutes as they maintained a brisk pace while they picked off the succession of intermediate sprints that dotted the opening half of the race. Shortly after the midway point, CCC Team began to take responsibility for organising the pursuit in the peloton and the gap gradually began to diminish. By then, rain was beginning to fall steadily over the race and the conditions were bad enough to prevent the television helicopter from taking off, thus limiting the live broadcast of this one-off Gran Trittico Lombardo.

After passing through Lissone, site of the Coppa Agostoni, the race headed towards the more rugged terrain around Varese by way of the climb of the Piccolo Stelvio. At the top, the leaders’ advantage was down to 6:40, and the gap fell still further as the intensity in the peloton picked up thereafter.

The race concluded with four and a half laps of the traditional Tre Valli Varesine finishing circuit around Varese, which featured the short climb of Montello and the drag up Salita dei Ronchi before the false flat towards the finish line. The break reached that 13km circuit still with more than four minutes in hand on their pursuers, but first Team Ineos and then Trek-Segafredo joined CCC Team at the head of the gruppo, and their combined efforts helped to whittle down their advantage.

The grim conditions and the intensity of the racing saw the peloton shed many riders on the hilly finishing circuit, and the reduced bunch was just over 2 minutes down on the escapees with two laps remaining. That gap would disappear over the next 13km, leaving only the strongmen at the head of the race come the final lap, where Izagirre emerged victorious from the gloom.

Results :
1 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 4:41:02
2 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:27
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Ineos
5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
6 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
7 Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
8 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:28
9 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 0:00:30
10 Jhonatan Manuel Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Team Ineos 0:01:01
11 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:01:16
12 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
13 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
14 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
15 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
16 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
17 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
18 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
19 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
20 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
21 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
22 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
23 Marco Tizza (Ita) Amore e Vita-Prodir
24 Senne Leysen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
25 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
26 Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
27 Floris De Tier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
28 Kevin Colleoni (Ita) Biesse Arvedi
29 Gabriele Benedetti (Ita) Casillo-Petroli Firenze-HopplA’ 0:01:32
30 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
31 Simone Velasco (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:01:40
32 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:01:54
33 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
34 Quinten Hermans (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:02
35 Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:46
36 Manuele Rivi (Ita) Italy 0:02:50
37 Antonio Di Sante (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
38 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
39 Umberto Marengo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
40 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos
41 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
42 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
43 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
44 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
45 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team
46 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
47 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
48 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:03:32
49 Natnael Tesfazion (Eri) NTT Continental
50 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:45
51 Martin Marcellusi (Ita) Italy 0:04:59
52 Daniel Savini (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 0:06:09
DNF Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) CCC Team
DNF Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team
DNF Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
DNF Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) CCC Team
DNF Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
DNF Davide Martinelli (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Samuel Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Alexander Konychev (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
DNF Mathias Norsgaard Jørgensen (Den) Movistar Team
DNF Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team
DNF Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
DNF Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
DNF Ethan Hayter (GBr) Team Ineos
DNF Brandon Rivera Vargas (Col) Team Ineos
DNF Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Antoni Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Pieter Weening (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Luca Covili (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Iuri Filosi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Sacha Modolo (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Davide Gabburo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Jasper De Plus (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Corne Van Kessel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Imerio Cima (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Anton Kuzmin (Kaz) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Thomas Boudat (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Romain Le Roux (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Andrea Garosio (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Alessandro Iacchi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Giovanni Aleotti (Ita) Friuli Asd
DNF Filippo Conca (Ita) Biesse Arvedi
DNF Tommaso Nencini (Ita) Italy
DNF Filippo Baroncini (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Gregorio Ferri (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Matteo Freddi (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Massimo Orlandi (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Nicolo Parisini (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Thomas Pesenti (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Matús Stocek (Svk) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Davide Appollonio (Ita) Amore e Vita-Prodir
DNF Maris Bogdanovics (Lat) Amore e Vita-Prodir
DNF Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Amore e Vita-Prodir
DNF Andrea Meucci (Ita) Amore e Vita-Prodir
DNF Antonio Zullo (Ita) Amore e Vita-Prodir
DNF Riccardo Ciuccarelli (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Francesco Di Felice (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Davide Leone (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Raffaele Radice (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Niccolo’ Salvietti (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Artur Sowinski (Pol) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Darwin Atapuma (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Diego Andres Camargo Pineda (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Yeisson Ferney Casallas Rincon (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Omar Alberto Mendoza Cardona (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Jesus David Peña Jimenez (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Wilson Estiben Pena Molano (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Nelson Soto Martinez (Col) Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW Bicicletas
DNF Davide Baldaccini (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Aldo Caiati (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Michele Gazzoli (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Andrea Piccolo (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Luca Rastelli (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Samuele Zoccarato (Ita) Team Colpack Ballan
DNF Connor Brown (NZl) NTT Continental
DNF Drew Christensen (NZl) Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy
DNF Frederik Nybo Eriksen (Den) NTT Continental
DNF Mattia Guasco (Ita) NTT Continental
DNF Samuele Rubino (Ita) NTT Continental
DNF Henok Mulueberhan (Eri) NTT Continental