Pasqualon: “My time is coming”

The Giro della Toscana (1.1, 15/09) and the Coppa Sabatini (1.Pro, 16/09) in the provincie of Pisa open the time of Italian autumn classics this Wedsnesday and Thursday. Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert is on the list of honor of both races. Guillaume Martin won the two day Giro della Toscana in 2017 and one day later  Andrea Pasqualon took the victory in the Coppa Sabatini. 

The Giro della Toscana is now again a one day race, following its tradition. This year, 191,5 kilometer are on the menu, divided by a loop of 81.3 kilometer south of Pontadera and a circuit of 55.5 kilometer north of the city, which has to be repeated twice. The difficulty in the second race half its the Monte Serra with the top of the second passage 25 kilometer before the finish.

The southern loop of the Giro della Toscana is the battlefield of the Coppa Sabatini one day later. One big lap, five middle loops and three times a local circuit in Peccioli total to 210.8 kilometer. The climbs towards Montefoscoli, Terricciola and Lajatico animate the parcours. On the final circuit there is only one difficulty: an uphill kilometer towards the finish in Peccioli.

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert selected three Italian riders for these first two end of the season races on Italian soil: Lorenzo Rota will race for the first time since the Tour de Pologne, Simone Petilli continues after La Vuelta and Andrea Pasqualon is looking forward to compete on his favorite terrain. The Italian rider will participate to his seventh Giro della Toscana and eighth Coppa Sabatini. Next to his victory in 2017, he already finished three times second, also in last year’s edition. Norwegian rider Odd Christian Eiking stays on Italian soil after the European Championship and also Czech climber Jan Hirt wants to take advantage of his good form from the Tour of Spain. Finally, also two French riders are part of the line up under the direction of Valerio Piva: Jérémy Bellicaud and Maxime Jarnet (trainee).