Milano-Torino – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Milano-Torino 2019!

Racing is well underway in Italy, with a break of five riders up the road early on. Rosskopf, Della Valle, Savini, Cavagna and Bou are five minutes up the road after just over 50km out on the road.

120km remaining from 179km

Movistar and EF Education First are among the teams working at the head of the peloton. Both teams feature riders who have finished on the podium here in the past, in the shape of Michael Woods and Alejandro Valverde.

Movistar can also look to Mikel Landa and Carlos Betancur (fifth in 2012), while EF's Sergio Higuita is in form as he makes his race debut.

Milano-Torino is the oldest race on the calendar, having been first run in 1876.

Valverde wasn't around yet back then, but he did make his debut at the race before any other rider in today's peloton. He finished 37th on his first participation in 2003, just days after taking silver at the Worlds road race in Canada.

On the other side of the coin, Juri Hollman, a stagiaire for Katusha-Alpecin who will be riding for Movistar next season, is the youngest rider in the race at 20 years old. He was born just three years before future teammate Valverde made his pro debut with Kelme.

Mads Pedersen, wearing number one today, is riding his third race since his Worlds triumph.

A look at the break and two of the riders out front will be teammates next year.

Daniel Savini is in his second year at Bardiani-CSF. He took third behind Matteo Trentin and Andrey Amador at Trofeo Matteotti in late September.

UAE stagiaire Nicolas Dalla Valle will also ride for Bardiani next season. He's a sprinter who was runner-up at the U23 Italian Championships this year.

Joan Bou is looking for a contract as Nippo-Vini Fantini close their doors at the end of the season. The Spanish climber was king of the mountains at the Tour of Hokkaido this year.

Rosskopf is the oldest man in the break at 30 years of age. He'll be with CCC Team again next year, having turned pro with the team back in 2015, when they were known as BMC.

Finally, Cavagna is the best-known rider in the break. Now in his third season as a professional, the QuickStep man has developed a reputation for attacking racing. In 2019 he has stage wins at the Tour of California and Vuelta a España, and was seemingly always on the attack in Spain.

100km remaining from 179km

The riders have finished their trip south and are now heading west, following the River Po towards Turin. The Po Valley, which runs from the western Alps to the Adriatic, is pan-flat – a feature that means the race doesn't really get going until very late on.

Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates) has crashed and been forced to abandon the race as a result.

83km remaining from 179km

Team Ineos are now working at the front of the peloton as the gap gradually comes down. It goes without saying that today's break won't be contesting the finish...

Tour de France winner Egan Bernal is their leader for the day, though they have a number of riders who could plausibly contend at the Superga finish. The young, exciting trio of Tao Geoghegan Hart, Eddie Dunbar and Iván Sosa are also in the Ineos squad today.

Milano-Torino is the fourth Italian one-day in quick succession before the final Monument of the year, Il Lombardia. It's also the first of the Trittico di Autunno, the unofficial trio of races to end the Italian season along with tomorrow's Gran Piemonte and Saturday's Il Lombardia.

Read our reports on the previous races below.

• Roglič wins Giro dell'Emilia
  
• Demi Vollering wins Giro dell'Emilia Donne
  
• Colbrelli wins GP Bruno Beghelli
  
• Marta Bastianelli wins GP Bruno Beghelli Donne
  
• Roglič wins Tre Valli Varesine

Here's a look at the break out on the road in pretty miserable conditions today.

65km remaining from 179km

65km to go in the race, so it's about 40km until we reach the base of the Superga for the first time.

The gap between peloton and break is down to four minutes now.

50km remaining from 179km

The break are inside the final 50km now. The weather is still dark and miserable – the following cars and motos have their lights on.

We've already taken a quick look at Ineos and their cadre of contenders today. Here's a rundown of some other riders who could be in with a shot of victory today.

Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec: Fausto Masnada

Arkéa-Samsic: Warren Barguil

Astana: Jakob Fuglsang, Gorka Izagirre, Ion Izagirre

Bora-Hansgrohe: Davide Formolo, Emanuel Buchmann, Rafał Majka, Max Schachmann

Deceuninck-QuickStep: Philippe Gilbert, Enric Mas

EF Education First: Sergio Higuita, Michael Woods

Groupama-FDJ: David Gaudu

Lotto Soudal: Tiesj Benoot

Mitchelton-Scott: Adam Yates

Movistar: Alejandro Valverde, Mikel Landa

Team Sunweb: Wilco Kelderman

Trek-Segafredo: Giulio Ciccone, Bauke Mollema

Some shots of the Basilica on top of the Superga, via Neri Sottoli's Twitter account.

The hill was the location of the Superga air disaster in 1949, when a plane carrying the Grande Torino football team crashed into a wall behind the church, killing everyone on board and wiping out the best team in Italian football.

Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) has abandoned the race due to illness.

It's pretty misty at the finish. Grim conditions all round today.

28km remaining from 179km

The gap is two minutes now and the break are almost at the base of the Superga.

Here's the profile of the climb. They go all the way up the first time, while at the finish they turn off before the summit to head to the line in front of the church.

Mitchelton-Scott and UAE Team Emirates are up front in the peloton as they near the climb.

23.5km remaining from 179km

The break hits the Superga, a minute up on the peloton. Cavagna goes on the attack immediately!

Rosskopf is chasing, but Cavagna has a nice gap here. Bou, Dalla Valle and Savini are gone.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) leads the peloton on the early slopes.

Bou is caught by the peloton.

21km remaining from 179km

Cavagna is a kilometre from the top now, and lies just 35 seconds up on the peloton. Ineos still lead the peloton.

It's just Cavagna left out front now, and his advantage is quickly coming down. He likely won't going to stay out front over the top.

20km remaining from 179km

And he's caught with 20km left to race. Geoghegan Hart still leads the way.

And the first major attack comes from Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) over the top!

He doesn't get much of a gap though, and is just a few metres off the front on the descent.

The peloton is much reduced after that climb. It's hard to tell exactly how many riders remain in there, but it can't be more than around 30 or 40.

14km remaining from 179km

They're still descending, with Ineos on the front. Next it'll be a short flat section before hitting the climb onec again.

Here's a shot of Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) working on the front of the peloton during the first ascent of the Superga.

The attacks start up again as the peloton hits the flat section.

10km remaining from 179km

Philippe Gilbert had a go, but Ineos were having none of it and Tao Geoghegan Hart is back on the front now.

Ineos, EF, Astana and Mitchelton are all present at the front of the peloton.

Each team has multiple riders up front. They're flying as they approach the base of the Superga once again.

5km remaining from 179km

Tanel Kangert (EF Education First) leads onto the climb.

Now Movistar take over. Fuglsang, Yates, Woods, Valverde, Gaudu are all up there towards the front.

4km remaining from 179km

Fuglsang puts in an effort, with Yates following him. The big guns are coming out to play now.

Gorka Izagirre and Michael Woods are away now, along with Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott)

3km remaining from 179km

They have a decent gap pretty quickly. It looks like ten seconds.

More riders are pushing the pace in the peloton. Gaudu is among them.

Gaudu puts some daylight between him and the chasers. He's almost with the Woods-Haig-Izagirre attack group now.

Woods shoots off the front in response to Gaudu making the catch. He wants to get out on his own.

2km remaining from 179km

Gaudu is up with Woods now. Yates, Haig, Bernal, Valverde and Gorka Izagirre have come together to chase.

They catch Woods, and the attacks fly. Haig can't keep up after his work dragging the group – including teammate Yates – across.

It's Gaudu, Woods, Adam Yates, Valverde and Bernal now as Izagirre fades.

Gaudu looks very strong here. He's pushing on off the front. Woods sticks to him.

Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) is lurking in the background, steadily making his way up to the leaders along with Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal). It doesn't look like there's enough time for them to do so, though.

1km remaining from 179km

Gaudu and Woods have extricated themselves from the rest now. Valverde, Bernal and Yates chase.

The gap isn't a big one, maybe five seconds.

They make it across but Woods pushes on.

Woods is flying! Valverde is on his wheel but can't hang on! 

And he's done it – Woods wins Milano-Torino with a stinging attack 500 metres from the line!

Valverde was closing in on the line, but couldn't reach Woods. Adam Yates takes third place.

Great ride by Woods. He was among the first to attack on that final ascent, and he kept trying, kept responding to other attacks, and then put in the winning move too.

1    Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First    4:03:48
2    Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team    
3    Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott    0:00:05
4    Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal    0:00:10
5    David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ    
6    Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos    
7    Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo    0:00:23
8    Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team    0:00:33
9    Kevin Rivera Serrano (CRc) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec    
10    Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep    0:00:38

Woods crossing the line as winner of Milano-Torino 2019.

Check out our brief report on the race here, along with a photo gallery and brief results.

Today's win is Woods' first since stage 2 of the Herald Sun Tour all the way back in January. I would say it's a nice way to bookend the season but he'll have his sights set on Saturday's Il Lombardia now.

The 32-year-old has been on an upward trajectory for the past month. He was 17th at Quebéc, eighth at Montréal, second at the Giro dell'Emilia and has now won here today.

The podium finishers: Woods, Valverde and Yates

Elsewhere, Bahrain-Merida riders Kristijan Koren and Borut Božič have both been handed two-year bans by the UCI for their part in Operation Aderlass.

Read the full story here.

Some power numbers from third-place finisher Adam Yates on that final climb.

We'll have more news from the race coming up, including reaction from Woods, Valverde, Adam Yates and Egan Bernal.

But that's all from me on the live report today. Be sure to keep checking back to Cyclingnews.com for our full race report and news items throughout the evening.