In the last straight line towards the fifth and last Monument of the season, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert will be at the start of three Italian semi classics in the neighboring regions Lombardia and Piemonte. For the second time in its history, the team will participate to Tre Valli Varesine (1.Pro, 5/10) on Tuesday, à Milano-Torino (1.Pro, 6/10) the next day and Gran Piemonte (1.Pro, 7/10) on Thursday.
Last year, Tre Valle Varesine were organized as one race named Gran Trittico Lombardo combining the Coppa Bernocchi and Coppa Agostoni. For this 100th edition, the peloton will ride from Busto Arsizio to Varese, where after 45 kilometer the first of 24 categorized hills is waiting. The rest of the race of 196.7 kilometer is divided in eight laps of 12.9 kilometer with the hills Montello (2 km at 5.2%), the Casbeno (2.5 km at 4.9%) and for the two last laps also the climb towards Casgiago (4.6 km at 4.2% with grades over 20%). The finish is situated after the top of the Casbeno. On this Tuesday, sports directors Valerio Piva and Steven De Neef can rely on Belgian rider Jan Bakelants, Dutch trainee Stijn Daemen, French neopro Théo Delacroix, Eritrean silver medallist at the U23 World Championships Biniam Girmay, the Lombardian riders Simone Petilli and Lorenzo Rota and also the German rider Georg Zimmermann.
"The team is running at full speed and it's great to see how motivated all riders all to give their best until the final race day of the season. Our excellent performances these past months are the subject of compliments in the peloton, our competitors admire our cohesion. Talking about myself, I enjoyed to be back with the team on the French soil after one month and a half without competition. I worked hard to rise to the level of my teammates and I felt good at the Route Adélie de Vitré and the Classique Loire-Atlantique, where I unfortunately was a victim of the slippery asphalt. These crashes luckily didn't have consequences, so I can look forward to the Italian races with confidence. Just like in France, the Tre Valli Varesine are ridden on a local lap and probably also in bad weather. It's getting more and more difficult to predict a race scenario, because its seems like the young talents are rewriting all cycling laws this season. But what is certain, with bad weather, we should be vigilant from the start. I remember the Gran Piemonte in 2015 which I won, the weather was also very bad..."
Tre Valli Varesine:
Jan Bakelants
Stijn Daemen
Théo Delacroix
Biniam Girmay Hailu
Simone Petilli
Lorenzo Rota
Georg Zimmermann
Sports Direction:
Valerio Piva
Steven De Neef
