De Marchi wins Tre Valli Varesine

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Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) claimed victory at the 2021 Tre Valli Varesine, outsprinting Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) in a two-up sprint in Varese. 

Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar made it two UAE Team Emirates riders on the podium, taking the sprint from a strong chase group half a minute behind the leading duo.

It was Pogačar who had made this wet edition of the autumn Italian one-day race an open and aggressive affair, attacking some 120km to the finish to bridge to the day’s breakaway. He was soon joined by a group containing Formolo but lost contact due to a puncture inside the final 50km and had to ride defensively as his teammate carried the torch.

By that point, De Marchi had already reached the front of the race in a separate counter-attack that went on the Montello climb, which was crested 10 times on the 12.5km Varese circuit that was used for the 2008 World Championships. 

The race then moved onto the 20km finishing circuit, featuring the Morsolo and Casciago climbs back-to-back, where De Marchi and Formolo found themselves in a six-man lead group, with Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal), Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën), Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar). They stuck together on the first of two laps as accelerations came and went in the reduced bunch behind, but then the pair forced the issue on the last lap. 

Formolo went solo on the downhill before De Marchi attacked on the climbs. He drew out Formolo on the Morsolo and then did the same on the Casciago, at which point they broke the elastic. 

The pair then combined to keep the chasers at 30 seconds on the downhill before tackling the gradual 3km climb to the finishing straight. Both riders attacked each other in the final 2km but they couldn’t be separated and it was settled in a sprint. 

Formolo went on the left, De Marchi on the right and it was the latter who had enough left in the tank to nudge in front and claim his second Italian Classic after winning the Giro dell’Emilia three years ago.

How it unfolded

It was a fast start to proceedings, with no breakaway forming until 20km were covered. Erik Fetter (EOLO-Kometa) and Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal) were the first two to break free, and they were soon joined by the counter-attacking duo of Giulio Masotto (Vini Zabù) and Robin Plamondon (Israel Start-Up Nation). 

They came together as a quartet after 25 kilometres and built a lead of 3:30, but it never grew any further than that. 

The entry to the short Varese circuit based on the Montello climb (1.7km at 5.5 per cent) came after 40km, and the first couple of laps passed quietly as the rain started to fall. 

However, on the fourth ascent, with 120km still remaining, Pogačar tore up the script, attacking and going clear with Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). The pair made it to the breakaway, which remained as a quartet as Plamodon and Masotto were dropped. 

As the gap reached 40 seconds, Formolo jumped on board a counter-attack on the following lap, along with Rota, Oliveira, and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo). They made it across to the front of the race with 100km still remaining, with the group soon counting six as Holmes and Fetter fell away.

Vincenzo Nibali launched a futile attack before his Trek-Segafredo team set about limiting the damage, reducing the gap to 30 seconds by the end of lap seven. 

On the next ascent of the Montello with 60km to go, Formolo launched an attack, which saw Wellens dropped, while De Marchi attacked from the peloton with Kron and Paret-Peintre. By the end of the final lap of the short circuit, the De Marchi trio joined forces with the front group, but the dynamic then changed en route to the longer finishing circuit as Pogačar punctured and was forced back to the peloton. 

On the twin ascents of the Morsolo and Casciago, separated by a short descent, Kron attacked up front while the bunch split into pieces behind. Pogačar reacted to a move from Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), before Alexander Vlasov (Astana-PremierTech) reduced the group with a big acceleration. 

As Kron was brought back, the next phase of action happened on the Montello, which was also part of the longer loop. Higuita launched an attack over the top and linked up with Urán, who dropped from the lead group. Together they chased, and nearly came unstuck on the wet descent, but they couldn’t get clear and the gap to the lead group grew out past 35 seconds again. 

On the subsequent descent, Formolo attacked and got a gap but was soon rejoined by De Marchi, Kron, Rota, Oliveira, and Paret-Peintre for the final ascents of Morsolo and Casciago. De Marchi was the aggressor on both climbs, Formolo being the one to respond on both occasions. On the second climb, they were away. 

Further down the road, Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) attacked and was joined by Pogačar, before David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Higuita, and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) got across. They reached the Rota/Kron/Oliveira/Paret-Peintre group to form a larger chase group, but De Marchi and Formolo combined on the flat and descent to keep them at bay. 

With 3.5km to go, the road kicked up again, and with 1.7km to go Formolo made the first bid for glory. It wasn’t convincing, though, and De Marchi sensed an opportunity to counter, but couldn’t go clear. 

When he tried again a few hundred metres later, Formolo launched an instant counter-attack of his own, but De Marchi swiftly responded. The pair then decided to settle it in a sprint, with Formolo leading into the home straight, only for De Marchi to ease past on the right and punch the air in delight.