Colbrelli wins Tre Valli Varesine

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Sonny Colbrelli emerged victorious in a small bunch sprint at Tre Valli Varesine to make it two out of three victories in the Trittico Lombardo series of Italian one-day races.

The Bardiani-CSF rider, who won the Coppa Agostoni two weeks ago, rolled with the punches on a chaotic final lap of the up and down 12.5km Varese circuit and took the sprint from a group of around 15 riders. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), who attacked repeatedly on the last of the nine laps, was second, with Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec’s Francesco Gavazzi third.

It was a seventh victory of the season for Colbrelli, who will join the nascent Bahrain-Merida team next year, and a third Italian one-day triumph in the space of a month after Agostoni and the Coppa Sabatini. 

“I felt good today and team backed me all day. I followed Ulissi and [Rigoberto] Uran when they attacked in the finale. I was on my limit but so was everyone else,” said the 26-year-old.

“This pays me back for all the hard work I’ve done in recent months and the hard work the Bardiani team has done for me. I’ve got to thank the team. I’ve had five great years with them.”

While last year’s Tre Valli Varesine was won solo by Vincenzo Nibali, this year it was settled by a sprint, despite covering the same parcours. The race started out in Saronno but reached Varese after 77km for nine laps of a 12.8km of a circuit that featured the short but significant Montello climb early on and other twisting roads in the city centre and near Lake Varese. 

After a frantic start to proceedings for 30km, a three-man breakaway of Eduard Grosu (Nippo-Fantini), Zak Dempster (Bora-Argon18) and Igor Boev (Gazprom-Rusvelo) opened up a sizeable advantage. It reached nine minutes, with Dempster giving his all on his birthday but the writing was on the wall for them when the action kicked off in the peloton with four of the five laps remaining. Topsport Vlaanderen and Cannondale-Drapac did much of the chasing.

Nibali was one of those to go on the front foot, with his Astana teammates Diego Rosa and Jakob Fuglsang showing an interest, along with the likes of Moreno Moser and Alessandro De Marchi. A group of six soon formed, with a few more sensing the opportunity and jumping across. The peloton remained lively, however, and the move came to nothing, with the bunch all together, though thinned out to around 60 riders, going into the final two laps.

BMC then began to take control, setting a fearsome pace that made it difficult for anyone to land a meaningful attack. Remy di Gregorio (Delko) made a solo effort and took a lead into the final lap but was caught by the start of the final Montello ascent, where those who couldn’t afford to wait for a sprint had to roll the dice. 

Fabio Aru was the first to do so but it wouldn’t stick, even if he continued to give it everything on the descent. There were more moves on the flat but then Nibali hit the front and knocked the pace off slightly. Heading into the final five kilometres, Ulissi’s Lampre-Merida teammates took matters in there own hands, and piled on the pressure when the road kicked up with three kilometres to go. Ulissi was soon on the attack in a move that saw BMC’s Philippe Gilbert distanced.

While Gianluca Brambilla (riding for the Italian national squad rather than Etixx-QuickStep), Jens Keukeleire (Orica-BikeExchange) and Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) all responded, Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) dragged the lined-out and rapidly-thinning bunch up to the leaders, and it wasn’t long before the Colombian was alone on the attack himself with a strong surge over the top of the final climb.

As he headed under the flamme route, Ulissi knew he needed to do something and drove again, but in doing so dragged Colbrelli and others with him. Gavazzi was also there but the quartet started looking at each other, which allowed the stragglers the chance to regroup for the sprint.

In the end it was Colbrelli, who had played an intelligent game, who got the better of Ulissi, who had looked the strongest rider in the closing kilometres but perhaps had expended that bit more energy.  

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