2022 Gran Piemonte/Giro del Piemonte (1.Pro), Italy

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Omegna - Beinasco, 198 km

Ivan Garcia wins in Beinasco. Sirotti photo

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Weather at the finish city of Beinasco at 1:20 PM, local time: 22C (72F), foggy, with the wind from the east at 5 km/hr (3 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from second-place Matej Mohoric's Team Bahrain Victorious.

Matej Mohorič takes another podium result after the successful week at CRO Race, as he is second in the sprint on the Classic Italian one day race Gran Piemonte.

The Slovenian rider was not among the day’s favourites seeing that the pure sprinters were expected to battle in the finish in Beinasco, nearby Turin, after 198km. But the course was designed to be open to different outcomes, featuring a hilly first part and a couple of ascents after 130km. In particular il Pilonetto, on the slopes of Colle di Superga, turned out to be decisive for the outcome of the race, as the sprinters were dropped, and the high pace of the front group didn’t favour their comeback.

Right after the race started in Omegna, four men attacked, but only two of them managed to stay away until 32km to go when they were caught by the front group formed on the day’s toughest climb, which included 5 of our riders. They worked very well together on the final flat part to keep the chasers away and to support our leader of the day, Matej Mohorič who was one of the fastest riders in the reduced group of about 50 riders.

Matej contested the sprint but our former rider Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) was coming at double speed from behind and crossed the line first. With Mohorič in second, Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) in third, and our young Edoardo Zambanini taking a very good top five result, in 4th place.

Matej Mohorič commented on his second place today: “I really believed I could win today. I felt super good in the climb and I was not on my limit. I felt very good in the last 30km too. The pace was very high in the first group and I saw lots of guys were on their limit, and I thought they could not be fresh for the sprint. I believed in my chances but unfortunately when I opened on the right side following Bettiol (EF), he changed a bit direction and I had to stop also a little bit with my sprint. I think I didn’t do the perfect sprint, but Cortina was just stronger coming from back on the left side so he deserved this victory, and I’m happy for him as he was a former teammate. In the end, a second place is a good result and I would be very happy if someone would have told me that I was second today at the start. I would have signed immediately for it. But seen how the race went and how I felt I’m a little bit disappointed as I had to stop pedaling when I came out on the right side”.

Bahrain Victorious will stay in Italy for the last Monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Today’s result is a good boost of motivation ahead of Saturday’s race, as Matej explains: “We are very much looking forward to Il Lombardia. We have a very solid group of climbers, and we hope to be there in the mix. I will make sure our leaders will be in the best position to fight for the win in the finale. We have good cards to play with, more options. I’m looking forward to the race”.