2014 Tre Valli Varesine (HC), Italy
94th edition: Thursday, September 18, 2014
Tre Valli Varesine podium history | 2015 edition | 2014 Tre Valli Varesine photos |
Luino - Varese, 208 km
Michael Albasini beats Sonny Colbrelli to win the 2014 Tre Valli Varesine. Photo ©Sirotti
The Race: It was an aggressive day of racing on streets made slippery with rain. Crashes took down several riders, including Tour de France Champion Vicenzo Nibali.
The day's break was absorbed late in the race, but then six riders got away, only to also be caught. Enrico Gasparotto, who later fell, initiated the winning move that grew to eleven riders before crashes reduced their number.
From that move Bardiani rider Sonny Colbrelli jumped for the line, but Michael Albasini was able to get by the Italian sprinter to win the race.
Albasini had this to say after the race, “I’m super happy to win one of these important and well-respected Italian one-day races – and on top of that, the closest one to our base. The team rode perfectly all day and I’m happy to get a big morale boost leading into the worlds.
“It was a very tough race with proper bad weather at the end but we stuck to our plan and that worked out really well. We did a bit of work early on to pull back the first, big break-away group,” Albasini explained. “Then we had Christian Meier perfectly placed in the counter attack that went when they got caught. That meant the rest of us could save our legs a little for the final. It came down to a big attack by (Enrico) Gasparotto on the last climb. That split the group completely and I managed to get into an 11-man break that it created.”
“I knew this was the winning break as no one was pulling properly behind us and I tried to keep calm as my eyes were on the sprint,” Albasini said. “(Filippo) Pozzato (LAM) was in the group too and I mainly focused on him coming into the last kilometres. There were a few crashes coming into the last stretch and I was worried about opening to the sprint too early. Two riders went with 300 metres to go and I managed to close the gap and open my sprint very late.
“The road was so wet that I was even too scared to raise my arms as I crossed the line first!”
2014 Tre Valli Varesine photos |
Complete Results:
Winner's average speed: 39.663 km/hr
| 1 | Michael Albasini | Orica-GreenEdge | 5hr 14min 39sec |
| 2 | Sonny Colbrelli | Bardiani-CSF | |
| 3 | Filippo Pozzato | Lampre-Merida | |
| 4 | Davide Rebellin | CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
| 5 | Damiano Caruso | Cannondale | |
| 6 | Mauro Finetto | Neri Sottoli-Yellow Fluo | |
| 7 | Kristijan Durasek | Lampre-Merida | @ 4 seconds |
| 8 | Edoardo Zardini | Bardiani-CSF | 7" |
| 9 | Enrico Gasparotto | Astana | 22" |
| 10 | Antonio Parrinello | Androni Giocattoli | +1:23 |
| 11 | Gregor Muhlberger | NetApp-Endura | +1:25 |
| 12 | Maciej Paterski | CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
| 13 | Michel Kreder | Wanty-Groupe Gobert | |
| 14 | Gian Marco Di Francesco | Vega-Hotsand | |
| 15 | Jan Polanc | Lampre-Merida | |
| 16 | Marco Minnaard | Wanty-Groupe Gobert | |
| 17 | Karel Hnik | MTN-Qhubeka | |
| 18 | Eliot Lietaer | Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 19 | Patrick Konrad | NetApp-Endura | |
| 20 | Simone Petilli | Area Zero | |
| 21 | Rodolfo Andres Torres | ||
| 22 | Miguel Angel Benito Diez | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
| 23 | Simone Ponzi | Neri Sottoli-Yellow Fluo | |
| 24 | Enrico Battaglin | Bardiani-CSF | |
| 25 | Ivan Santaromita | Orica-GreenEdge | |
| 26 | Eduardo Sepulveda | Bretagne-Séché Environnement | |
| 27 | Tiago Machado | NetApp-Endura | |
| 28 | Dennis Van Niekerk | MTN-Qhubeka | |
| 29 | Bartosz Huzarski | NetApp-Endura | |
| 30 | Giovanni Visconti | Italy | +1:30 |
| 31 | Jens Keukeleire | Orica-GreenEdge | +1:34 |
| 32 | Francesco Failli | Neri Sottoli-Yellow Fluo | +1:57 |
| 33 | Davide Vigano | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
| 34 | Sergei Pomoshnikov | RusVelo | +2:21 |
| 35 | Kiryll Pozdnyakov | RusVelo | +2:21 |
| 36 | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Wanty-Groupe Gobert | |
| 37 | Frederik Backaert | Wanty-Groupe Gobert | |
| 38 | José Joao Pimenta Costa Mendes | NetApp-Endura | |
| 39 | Paolo Longo Borghini | Cannondale | |
| 40 | Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo | Colombia | +2:56 |
| 41 | Preben Van Hecke | Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 42 | Sergey Lagutin | RusVelo | |
| 43 | Andrea Pasqualon | Area Zero | |
| 44 | Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez | Colombia | |
| 45 | Brice Feillu | Bretagne-Séché Environnement | +3:23 |
| 46 | Cesare Ciommi | Vega-Hotsand | |
| 47 | Franco Pellizotti | Androni Giocattoli | |
| 48 | Andrea Vaccher | Marchil-Emisfero | |
| 49 | Pieter Weening | Orica-GreenEdge | +4:00 |
| 50 | Antonio Molina | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | +5:48 |
| 51 | Angel Madrazo Ruiz | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
| 52 | Marcos Garcia | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
| 53 | Vegard Stake Laengen | Bretagne-Séché Environnement | |
| 54 | Anthony Delaplace | Bretagne-Séché Environnement | |
| 55 | Alessio Taliani | Androni Giocattoli | |
| 56 | Fabio Taborre | Neri Sottoli-Yellow Fluo | |
| 57 | Paolo Ciavatta | Area Zero | |
| 58 | Cesare Benedetti | NetApp-Endura | |
| 59 | Ricardo Pichetta | Idea | |
| 60 | Andrei Nechita | MG Kvis | |
| 61 | Alessandro Tonelli | ||
| 62 | Federico Zurlo | United Healthcare | |
| 63 | Francesco Manuel Bongiorno | Bardiani-CSF | +6:25 |
| 64 | Leopold Konig | NetApp-Endura | |
| 65 | Simone Antonini | Marchil-Emisfero | |
| 66 | Diego Rosa | Androni Giocattoli | +7:46 |
| 67 | Luca Dodi | Lampre-Merida | |
| 68 | Gianluca Mengardo | Area Zero | |
| 69 | Igor Boev | RusVelo | |
| 70 | Mirko Tedeschi | Idea | |
| 71 | Otto Vergaerde | Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 72 | Fabricio Ferrari Barcelo | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | +9:18 |
| 73 | David De La Cruz Melgarejo | NetApp-Endura |
2014 Tre Valli Varesine photos:
Ivan Basso leads the pack. Photo ©Sirotti
Enrico Gasparotto. Photo ©Sirotti
Simone Ponzi. Photo ©Sirotti
Brice Feillu. Photo ©Sirotti
David de la Cruz. Photo ©Sirotti
Filippo Pozzato. Photo ©Sirotti
Michael Albasini timed his sprint perfectly. Photo ©Sirotti
Michael Albasini after the race. Photo ©Sirotti
Race winner Michael Albasini. Photo ©Sirotti
The podium, from left: Sonny Colbrelli, Michael Albasini, Filippo Pozatto. Photo ©Sirotti