The 103rd edition of the Italian one-day races takes place next Monday.
Legnano, the site of the Lombard League’s improbable, but at the same time, resounding and game-changing victory over Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his imperial army in 1176, will once again host the start and finish of the Coppa Bernocchi. The main difficulty of the 190.7km race will be the Piccolo Stelvio climb, which will be part of the tough 16.7km Valle Olona circuit – offering opportunities to the attackers – that the peloton will tackle seven times, before a long descent to the finish.
Having won the race last year, when Remco Evenepoel dropped all his opponents in the rain after a whole day in the break, the Wolfpack will return at the start having bib number one in its ranks and the ambition of going again for a good result, with a team consisting of Andrea Bagioli, Davide Ballerini, Mikkel Honoré, James Knox, Mauro Schmid, Mauri Vansevenant and Louis Vervaeke.
“We like racing in Italy, we took a fine win last year here and we’d like to do it again, but we know it won’t be easy. At the same time, we have a good squad with several cards to play – riders who had strong results this year for the team – and we are confident and prepared to give everything as we enter the last week of our season”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Davide Bramati.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
