Tre Valli Varesine  Men and Women LIVE

I LOVE THIS RACE.

Yes, I know I said I love the ending of Emilia more than life itself but for an entire one day race I just love the route of Tre Valli Varesine. Its selective but not overly so. Yes, sprinters need not apply and also if you are a rider or DS that is winding down from a long season you’re gonna get stomped here. Which I like very much. But if your skillset is anywhere from puncheur to climbing hellion and you are in form, you got a real chance here.

It’s also not as crazy hard as Lombardy so the list of riders who have a real chance is longer than usual. Last year Ilan Van Wilder won (and he’s back to defend). In 2022 it was Pog. Going back several years we got

• 2021 Alessandro De Marchi
• 2020 (race cancelled for some reason)
• 2019 Primoz Roglic
• 2018 Toms Skuijns in a small bunch sprint with Pinot, Kennaugh, Woods, Frank, and Kelderman
• 2017 Alexandre Geniez, also in a small bunch spring with Pinot, Nibali, and Ulissi

See? Nice assortment of Grand Tour riders, “domestiques”, and hilly classic specialists. Pog can obviously win it but also Benoot.

What about the women you ask? Here’s the last two winners (the first women’s race was more of a local affair):

• 2023 Liane Lipert
• 2022 Eliza Longo Borghini

So, often like in Monument races, we see a solo winner/survivor but small bunch sprints are definitely on the table. The race is not overly long, 136.3km for the women, and 200.33km for the men which serves to make the race intense with the outcome not decided until the very end. (Disclaimer: unless you are Pog this year)

So who is riding this year?

Men: Pog, Remco, and Roglic, Gaudu, Vlasov, and Cattaneo. Benoot, Kelderman, and Mas. Ulissi, Ayuso, and Piganzoli. Arensman, Pidcock, and Right Yates. Poels, Buitrago, and Gregoire. Vine, Vermaerke, and Jorgenson. And Bardet, Majka, and Pozzovivo for us old people. One fun thing is Hirschi is NOT in this race. Crazy.

Women: this is a .Pro race and there’s a WWT stage race happening. Still: Brown, Muzic, Lippert, Kraak, Garcia, Labous, Gasparrini etc.

What about the course? This is yet another north of Milan race, basically a little to the west of yesterday’s Bernocchi course. It even starts in the town just to the northwest of where bernocchi started and like Bernocchi travels north. Unlike Bernocchi however it goes a bit further north to Varese and stays there for a bunch of loops around and outside of town. It’s a prettier race all around with the lovely hills and…