George Bennett wins Gran Piemonte

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George Bennett gave Jumbo-Visma yet another victory two hours after Wout van Aert won stage 1 at the Criterium du Dauphine, winning the one-day Gran Piemonte race in Italy with a perfectly timed attack on the final climb through the Langhe vineyards. 

The Kiwi opened a gap on the decisive late climb and descent and then held off the chasers as the skies opened and the rain poured on the race.

Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) made a very late charge and closed the gap on Bennett on the climb to the finish line but Bennett dug deep to win by five metres. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) won the sprint for third ahead of a small group of chasers, four seconds behind Bennett. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) was fourth and Simon Geschke (CCC Team) fifth.

"I only had two days left this season where I could ride for myself: today and Saturday, then I go back to being a domestique. On our team, we have the best riders in the world, so I had an opportunity now, on this team, and I really had to take it," Bennett said.

"I’m really happy that I could do it today. I told the boys that I wanted to try and they really did a wonderful job. They told us on the radio half way that Wout [Van Aert] won at the Dauphine, Wout is winning, everyone is winning everywhere, and  I wanted to get in on the action.

"I waited until the last part of the race. I was worried it wasn’t hard enough, so I asked the boys to make it as hard as they could. They did a good job; all the boys positioned me all day. Then Vincenzo (Nibali) tried to attack and as soon as he was fading a little bit, I went. I was a bit scared on the downhill when it was half rain-half dry, that’s always scary because you don’t know how hard you can push. I tried to take it as easy as I could but still go fast." 

Bennett will stay in Italy and lead Jumbo-Visma in Saturday's Il Lombardia, while Primoz Roglic, Tom Dumoulin and Steven Kruijswijk take on Team Ineos and the rest at the Criterium du Dauphine.

How it unfolded

Gran Piemonte – or the Giro del Piemonte as it used to be called – has changed location and dates over the years. In the 1980s, it moved to its familiar, pre-Tour of Lombardy slot as part of the Trittico d’Autunno with Milano-Torino. This year’s August date is due to the revised COVID-19 UCI calendar but it retains its proximity to Il Lombardia, which is scheduled for Saturday. Many of the riders at the start will also line-up in Bergamo on Saturday. Last year Egan Bernal won the summit finish at Oropa but this year's 187km route was a more of a rolling affair amongst the Langhe hills and vineyards from Santo Stefano Belbo to Barolo. The Langhe produces some of the world's finest wines and the hills of this region lend themselves readily to a race for puncheurs.

It was another hot and humid day as the riders rolled out in the early afternoon, with temperatures of 30C and humidity close to 65 per cent.  The early break formed after a few kilometres with Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Callum Scotson (Mitchelton-Scott) going clear. They were soon joined Joey Rosskopf (CCC Team) and Philipp Walsleben (Alpecin-Fenix) and the peloton let them go, with the gap eventually to rising over five minutes. Astana took early control at the head of the peloton, riding for recent Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge winner Aleksandr Vlasov. The four attackers still lead by 5:45 with 100km left to race and pushed the gap out to 6:15 as they reached Barolo for the start of the two 44km hilly finishing laps.

Trek-Segafredo, Jumbo-Visma and Astana put riders on the front to help the chase but the breakaway fought on, giving the peloton a hide ride.

Van der Poel's Alpecin-Fenix was spared that duty by Walsleben presence in the break. Trek-Segafredo also contributed to the pursuit of the break, bringing the gap down to 3:30. The biggest blow to the break came when Scotson slowed and then suddenly got off his bike due to cramps. The talented Australian was unable to continue racing hard and drifted back to the peloton. Trek-Segafredo's Jacopo Mosca leads the peloton through the finish area in Barolo as the bell rang for the final lap, some 2:15 down on the break. It would be a race all the way to the finish, with Team Ineos driving the chase but only 50 riders were left in the peloton for the hilly finale.

The catch came with nine kilometres to go and the race exploded a kilometre later, when Nibali attacked to set-up Ciccone. However Bennett and Moscon took over at the front and surged away. Bennett then dropped Moscon as the group exploded behind on the steep grades. The rain began as Bennett reached the summit of the climb but he did not look back or ease up, opening a 15-second gap on the chasers. The road turned dry and then wet again for the climb up to Barolo, with Bennett using his climbing skills to hold off the chase all the way to the finish.