Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché, Belgium) won the Tre Valli Varesine on 6 October, in a 3-man sprint, in 4h34’25”. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Great Britain) was second, Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease A Bike, United States) third.
The race
The race started in Busto Arsizio, in front of the Museo del Tessile, and finished in Varese, on via Sacco. In the first part the peloton stayed calm. It only really came alive on the final circuit, the longest one, with the climbs of the Ronchi and the Montello and the ramps of Oltrona al Lago and Barasso.
The breakaway formed early. In it were Matteo Turconi, Fabian Weiss, Tommaso Nencini, Kyrylo Tsarenko and a fifth rider, whose name the reports spell in different ways. They built a good margin, but the reports disagree on how big it was and we do not state it. On the circuit the advantage melted away quickly.
About 50 kilometres from the finish Mikkel Honoré attacked alone and caught the last escapees. Behind, the group of the best thinned out climb after climb. On the Muro delle Cinque Piante di Barasso the breakaway ran out completely.
The lead of those in front fell to a few seconds. At that point Brandon McNulty, in the rainbow jersey, drove the peloton and caught Honoré. Then he tried to attack himself, without managing to drop anyone.
The race was decided in the finale. Tom Pidcock attacked on the penultimate climb and pulled Matteo Jorgenson and Jarno Widar clear of the group. Between the first two, according to the reports, there was a spat over the turns. Then the three came to an agreement and held off the chasers.
The group kept closing the gap. So, on the final straight, Pidcock, Jorgenson and Widar eyed one another. Nobody wanted to go first, because the peloton was closing in behind.
Widar broke the stalemate. He launched a long sprint, from behind, with more than two hundred metres still to go. Pidcock tried to come back but could not. Jorgenson was unable to respond.
For Widar, a 21-year-old Belgian, it is a first professional win. It comes in the 105th edition, following Tadej Pogačar on the roll of honour. Quinn Simmons’s group came in 3″ later, with Pidcock and Jorgenson caught a few metres from the line.
The first Italian is Christian Scaroni, XDS Astana Team, 7th at 3″; among the top ten there are 3 Italians. 103 riders finished out of 168 starters.
How they finished
The top ten
| # | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jarno Widar | Lotto Intermarché | 4h34’25” |
| 2 | Tom Pidcock | Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team | s.t. |
| 3 | Matteo Jorgenson | Team Visma | Lease A Bike | s.t. |
| 4 | Quinn Simmons | Lidl-Trek | +3″ |
| 5 | Marc Hirschi | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | +3″ |
| 6 | Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia | Bahrain Victorious | +3″ |
| 7 | Christian Scaroni | XDS Astana Team | +3″ |
| 8 | Ludovico Crescioli | Team Polti Visitmalta | +3″ |
| 9 | Jhonatan Narvaez | UAE Team Emirates XRG | +3″ |
| 10 | Simone Gualdi | Lotto Intermarché | +3″ |
The race in numbers
- Selection index
- 48 out of 100 Of 103 finishers (1 with no time in the results): 26 within 30 seconds of the winner, 63 within 2 minutes, 98 within 10 minutes (himself included). It runs from 0, a bunch sprint, to 98, a solo finish.
News written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: UCI, official results.
- Photo: MFonzatti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
