2021 Veneto Classic (1.1), Italy
1st edition: Sunday, October 17, 2021
Veneto Classic podium history | Race map & profile | 2022 edition
Venice - Bassano del Grappa, 206.6 km
Samuele Battistella finishes alone in Bassano del Grappa.
Weather at the finish city of Bassano del Grappa at 2:00 PM, local time: 19C (66F), sunny, with the wind from the south at 10 km/hr (6 mph). No rain is forecast.
The race: Here's the report from winner Samuele Battistella's Astana-Premier Tech team.
It was the perfect way to wrap up a challenging 2021 season as Samuele Battistella soloed to glory in Bassano del Grappa after a stunning performance riding many kilometres at the front of the race.
The last race of the 2021 season took the riders over 200km from Venice to Bassano del Grappa with the second part of the race featuring a punchy circuit before crossing the finish line.
The Astana – Premier Tech riders showed an amazing display of teamwork, controlling the race from kilometre zero. As the race headed towards the last laps of the circuit, Samuele Battistella paid attention to the moves at the front which saw him lead the race with two other riders. Meanwhile Alexey Lutsenko took control of the pace in the chasing group.
At the front, Matteo Trentin touched wheels with Battistella and hit the deck, which meant Samuele Battistella led the race solo with less than 20 kilometres to go. The chasing group pushed hard trying to close the gap but Battistella put the hammer down and rode an absolute fantastic race to wrap up the season with a win, and was able to celebrate as he had a five-second gap over his opponents.
Teammate Alexey Lutsenko rounded out a great end of the season with sprinting to a top five finish.
"I feel sorry for Trentin, we worked well together and when he touched my wheels we had only 15 kilometres left. I asked Martino (Giuseppe Martinelli) what we should do then and he said I should ride my rhythm up the climb towards the finish. From there on I never looked back and gave everything I had. It is my first victory as a professional and it feels like a rebirth as the season started not in the way I wanted as I struggled with health issues. The last days I worked for Alexey and today he worked for me as a return. The last kilometres were on home soil, I train here a lot and the fans were amazing and pushed me. Also, a huge thanks to my team, it was pure teamwork. The plan was that I start and Alexey would finish it off but at the end we changed and I went ahead with Luts also taking a top result. It is the perfect way to finish our season." – Samuele Battistella
"What should I say, it has been a wonderful week. Already on Friday, when Lutsenko took the win, it was pure joy but today’s win was just perfect. Today, I bet on Battistella to win, even if we weren’t riding for him and he needed to work but you could see the previous days that he was getting stronger and stronger. I am so happy for the team and it was the best way to finish the season and also to take these emotions into the off season, already being motivated for the upcoming one. I hope this victory will be a good sign for 2022." – Giuseppe Martinelli
Les Woodland's book The Olympics' 50 Craziest Stories is available as an audiobook here.
Complete results:
206.6 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.071 km/hr
| 1 | Samuele Battistella | Astana-Premier Tech | 5hr 1min 49sec |
| 2 | Marc Hirschi | UAE Team Emirates | @ 6sec |
| 3 | Jhonatan Restrepo | Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | s.t. |
| 4 | Alexey Lutsenko | Astana-Premier Tech | s.t. |
| 5 | Remy Rochas | Cofidis | 0:10 |
| 6 | Diego Ulissi | UAE Team Emirates | 0:27 |
| 7 | Lorenzo Rota | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | 0:27 |
| 8 | Guillaume Martin | Cofidis | 0:29 |
| 9 | Andrea Piccolo | Nazionale Italiana | 0:55 |
| 10 | Cristian Scaroni | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 11 | Vincenzo Albanese | Eolo-Kometa | 1:37 |
| 12 | Alberto Dainese | Nazionale Italiana | 1:39 |
| 13 | Andrea Pasqualon | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 14 | Enrico Battaglin | Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè | s.t. |
| 15 | Simone Velasco | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 16 | Davide Gabburo | Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè | s.t. |
| 17 | Andrea Garosio | Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè | s.t. |
| 18 | Matteo Trentin | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 19 | Davide Orrico | Vini Zabù | s.t. |
| 20 | Mattia Bais | Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | s.t. |
| 21 | Jan Bakelants | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 22 | Francesco Gavazzi | Eolo-Kometa | s.t. |
| 23 | Giovanni Carboni | Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè | s.t. |
| 24 | Riccardo Tosin | General Store Essegibi-F.Ili Curia | s.t. |
| 25 | Alex Tolio | Zalf-Euromobil-Désirée-Fior | s.t. |
| 26 | Lorenzo Fortunato | Eolo-Kometa | s.t. |
| 27 | Odd Christian Eiking | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 28 | Alessandro Covi | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 29 | Simone Petilli | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 30 | Antonio Puppio | Team Qhubeka | s.t. |
| 31 | Jonas Rapp | Hrinkow Advarics | 2:13 |
| 32 | Marco Canola | Gazprom-RusVelo | 2:31 |
| 33 | Manuele Boaro | Astana-Premier Tech | s.t. |
| 34 | Nicola Venchiarutti | Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | s.t. |
| 35 | Marco Tizza | Amore & Vita | 5:34 |
| 36 | Davide Botta | Nazionale Italiana | s.t. |
| 37 | Kevin Colleoni | Nazionale Italiana | s.t. |
| 38 | Sven Erik Bystrom | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 39 | Davide Formolo | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 40 | Edward Ravasi | Eolo-Kometa | 5:53 |
| 41 | Matteo Zurlo | Zalf-Euromobil-Désirée-Fior | 7:00 |
| 42 | Davide de Pretto | Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli | s.t. |
| 43 | Riccardo Verza | Zalf-Euromobil-Désirée-Fior | s.t. |
| 44 | Petr Rikunov | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 45 | Kevin Bonaldo | Team Qhubeka | s.t. |
| 46 | Federico Burchio | Work Service-Marchiol | s.t. |
| 47 | Thomas Champion | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 48 | Negasi Haylu | Team Qhubeka | 8:54 |
| 49 | Nathan Haas | Cofidis | 10:04 |
| 50 | Stijn Daemen | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 51 | Timon Loderer | Hrinkow Advarics | s.t. |
| 52 | Eduardo Sepulveda | Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | s.t. |
| 53 | Thomas Pesenti | Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli | s.t. |
| 54 | Attilio Viviani | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 55 | Michael Konczer | Hrinkow Advarics | s.t. |
| 56 | Matteo Baseggio | General Store-F.Ili Curia-Essegibi | s.t. |
| 57 | Lorenzo Visintainer | General Store-F.Ili Curia-Essegibi | s.t. |
| 58 | Edoardo Faresin | Zalf-Euromobil-Désirée-Fior | s.t. |
| 59 | Samuele Carpene | General Store-F.Ili Curia-Essegibi | s.t. |
| 60 | Hugo Toumire | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 61 | Mattia Bevilacqua | Vini Zabù | s.t. |
| 62 | Raul Colombo | Work Service-Marchiol | s.t. |
| 63 | Ivan Rovny | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 64 | Francesco Zandri | Work Service-Marchiol | s.t. |
| 65 | Marco Grendene | Beltrami TSA-Tre Colli | s.t. |
| 66 | Alex Raimondi | Nazionale Italiana | s.t. |
| 67 | Luca Mozzato | Nazionale Italiana | s.t. |
| 68 | Rainer Kepplinger | Hrinkow Advarics | s.t. |
| 69 | Riccardo Lucca | General Store-F.Ili Curia-Essegibi | s.t. |
| 70 | Davide Bais | Eolo-Kometa | s.t. |
| 71 | Edoardo Zardini | Vini Zabù | s.t. |
| 72 | Mattia Guasco | Team Qhubeka | s.t. |
| 73 | Giacomo Garavaglia | Work Service-Marchiol | s.t. |
| 74 | Leonardo Marchiori | Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | s.t. |
| 75 | Alexander Cepeda | Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec | s.t. |
| 76 | Francesco di Felice | MG.K vis VPM | s.t. |
| 77 | Erik Fetter | Eolo-Kometa | s.t. |
| 78 | Francesco Carollo | MG.K vis VPM | s.t. |
| 79 | Luka Pajek | Hrinkow Advarics | 10:27 |
2021 Veneto Classic map & profile:
2021 Veneto Classic map
2021 Veneto Classic profile