Giro del Veneto: Dorian Godon grinds to victory in uphill sprint

A powerful late acceleration in a grinding uphill finish has netted France’s Dorion Godon (AG2R-Citröen) this year’s edition of the Giro del Veneto.

Already the winner of the Brabantse Pijl this spring, five months later Godon outpowered Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny) in a small bunch dash for the line.

The 170-kilometre Italian Classic came down to the final ascent of the Monte Berico for a front group of 30 or so riders, with top favourite Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) making his move late on, only to be boxed in.

Godon then stormed away in the closing metres to claim the eighth victory of his career and his second top win in 2023.

“Stan Dewulf was in the break so that meant we could take it easy behind until we caught them with five kilometres to the finish,” said a delighted Godon afterwards.

“I’d said with two laps to go that I felt strong so me and [designated AG2R race leader Benoit Cosnefroy] swapped roles. My teammates paced me perfectly for the sprint, and I did just the sprint I like, 15 seconds full on. 

"Now we’ll try for the Veneto Classic on Sunday, we have some good cards to play with Benoit and Andrea [Vendrame] so we’ll try again.”

For more than two hours of racing in the opening half of Veneto, no break managed to go clear, until finally as the second hillier segment approached, a half-dozen riders powered away: Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citröen), Davide De Cassan (Eolo-Kometa), Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5), Jonass Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Michael Belleri (Biesse-Carrera).

Their maximum gap of four minutes endured well into the finale, but then on the first assault of five of the short, but relentlessly rising Monte Berico climb, the two Italians, De Cassan and Belleri both found the going too hard.

Israel-Premier Tech were the most committed team doing the chasing, although, by the third time up the Berico, Van Moer, Rosskopf, Abrahamsen and Dewulf still held an advantage of 2:30 across the line. 

A test counter-attack by Axel Laurence (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rapidly left Israel’s chase in tatters, forcing UAE Team Emirates to pick up the slack with a determined Rafał Majka and Diego Ulissi lining things out.

The twisting circuit and repeated long descent off the Berico initially did not see UAE’s acceleration have much impact. Until on the flatter, straighter roads leading to the foot of the climb, finally the quartet looked vulnerable and Rosskopf threw in the towel.

Widely tipped as the favourite, Hirschi’s sudden lunge ahead in the pack on the penultimate circuit squeezed down the chasing peloton, only for Israel-Premier Tech’s veteran Domenico Pozzovivo to remind the spectators of his glory days by taking over on the front. 

Van Moer stubbornly launched a couple of attacks on the series of short rises that followed the finishing line, but with seven kilometres to go a ragged, drawn-out bunch scooped in the last three escapees.

A lunging combined counter-attack by Vermeersch, recently second in the Gravel World Champs and Johannessen flickered out almost as quickly as it was born. But even so, Johannessen's aggressiveness seemingly inspired his Uno-X teammates to follow his attack up with a long drive that carried the front peloton of some 20 riders all the way to the lower slopes of the final ascent.

Ulissi and Matteo Trentin then repeated their earlier role of pace-setting for UAE in a final bid for Hirschi to capture the win, and had it not been for an Arkea-Samsic rider unintentionally partly blocking the Swiss rider in on the uphill chicane, UAE’s challenge might well have succeeded.

Instead, Hirschi was forced to slow slightly just as Godon and Vermeersch were unfurling a long acceleration on the other side of the road. By the time the Swiss rider Hirschi could fully react, Godon had left Vermeersch behind and was steadily opening a gap. 

In the last seconds of the scintillating finish to one of the more exciting races of this year's late season, the Frenchman soared across the line to easily claim a win by over two bike lengths on Johannessen, while Vermeersch faded slightly to round out the day's podium.

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