Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) completed a stunning 30km solo attack to become the newest winner of the oldest one-day race on the calendar at Milano-Torino.
He held off a strong chasing group who reduced his advantage from its biggest at 40 seconds right down to seven at the line. 19-year-old Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) was second after another impressive day of racing.
Bettiol went away with 30km to go after a stinging attack on the penultimate climb of the day to Prascorsano. His advantage built quickly as he crested the uphill, but he was then in a constant battle with the chase right to the last.
Bora Hansgrohe led the pursuit behind and worked to pull back the Italian inside the final 18km after he crested the last climb with a 15-second advantage. They would come within eight seconds of Bettiol with his pink jersey in sight, but he fought back in the final 3km and pulled his advantage back out to double digits as the games began.
Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) attacked away after Bora ran out of domestiques, reducing the lone leader’s advantage to just six seconds.
Christen followed for UAE Team Emirates after they had been the most active team throughout the long day and pulled away under the flamme rouge, but the damage was done with the Italian claiming his first win in over a year and first since the Tour Down Under in 2023.
"It's a nice victory. I'm really proud of winning in Italy and winning one of the most iconic races in the world, the Milano-Torino. I'm really happy," said Bettiol after the finish.
Bettiol's attack was bold as it came during a moment of control for UAE team Emirates, but with 1km remaining on the penultimate climb, the Italian thought he would test the waters.
"I tried because I was feeling good and I wanted to test my legs after Tirreno-Adriatico and before Milan-San Remo," Bettiol said perhaps surprised by his own strength.
"I didn't expect it to go so fast for so long. I expected a bunch of riders behind but yeah in the end it was really tough actually.
"I didn't plan to suffer so much in Milan-Torino but again I'm really proud to win today. For the team, it's important because it sends to all my teammates and the staff extra motivation for the upcoming races."
Bettiol's win here will now give him huge confidence heading into Saturday's Milan-San Remo and he'll be hoping this victory marks a return to the Monument-conquering form that saw him win the Tour of Flanders in 2019.
How it unfolded
Unsurprisingly, the oldest one-day race on the calendar has seen multiple parcours decide its winner, but 2024 marked a new route for those present at Milano-Torino to take on. There was no return to the stinging Superga climb, but the years of sprinters taking victory, which was the case for three of the past four editions, appeared to be over.
A redesigned punchy route from Rho, just west of Milano, to Salassa, a few miles north of Torino, was on the menu for today. 177km separated the teams from that finish, with two key climbs likely to decide the day, up to Prascorsano (3.1 km at 6.9%) and Colleretto Castelnuovo (3.8 km at 3.9%).
They would top out 18km and 29km from the finish line respectively, and gave the perfect launch pad to try and get away. It also provided the perfect warm-up on a route similar to that of Milan-San Remo, the first Monument of the season this Saturday, with two hills allowing the most explosive riders to pull away from the fast men.
A three-man group would form the day's early break as they headed west away from Rho, Marco Murgano (Team Corratec - Vini Fantini), Marcel Camprubí (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies). They would build an advantage of close to four minutes at its biggest.
That lead would fluctuate throughout the first flat 90 kilometres and three hours of racing but with no real chance of making it. They were caught just after the peloton passed the finish line for the first time with just under 40km to race.
Former winner Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) abandoned the race after telling reporters pre-race that he was feeling under the weather. His team later confirmed on social media that it was down to gastrointestinal discomfort.
With the climb to Prascorsano (3.1 km at 6.9%) UAE Team Emirates took over for their multiple leaders. This would put many of the sprinters in trouble and bring the best punchy riders towards the front.
This is where Bettiol made his explosive winning attack, launching away from the Emirati team on the back of their pacing. His sprint for the top of the climb was responded to by Christen, but the young man had nothing to match the all-out surge from Bettiol.
Bettiol's descending skills would see him eke out his advantage to over 40 seconds as Bora-Hansgrohe now took over on the front. They would work well with numbers behind but got attacked on the final climb to Colleretto Castelnuovo (3.8 km at 3.9%).
Gianluca Brambilla (Q36.5) pushed the pace with Rubio and Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech) in his wheel. Bettiol's advantage was quickly halved to 20 seconds as Bob Jungels (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lutsenko sped away from the tiring chase group.
These moves would amount to nothing and ultimately it would come down to the chase on the run to Salasso. Bettiol's gap fluctuated from as low as eight seconds to back out to 20 with Bora taking up the brunt of work.
It became clear Bettiol was going to make it inside 3km to go as the German team didn't have it.
Small attacks behind made no real impact on the leader's advantage despite him being within sight. Bettiol navigated the final few twists and turns with the barriers section approaching, still able to ease up over the line and raise his arms with Christen in second and Hirschi in third despite having a nosebleed in the final 20km.
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