Soudal Quick-Step’s climber becomes the first Brazilian to claim the honors at the prestigious Italian race.
Henrique Bravo added a third stage race to his palmares, and the most important one of his young career so far - the 62nd edition of the Giro della Valle d’Aosta. The 20-year-old, victorious at the Tour of Antalya and Oberösterreich Rundfahrt this season, sealed the overall win on Sunday afternoon, in Breuil Cervinia, where he successfully defended the yellow jersey he had been wearing since the opening day.
Several teams tried to put pressure on Bravo on the many climbs of the last stage, but thanks to a solid effort of his teammates and another resilient ride, nobody could dislodge him. Champlong, Col Saint Pantaléon, and Breuil-Cervinia were the three major ascents of the day, and Henrique passed each of these tests with ease before concluding part of an elite group featuring some of his GC rivals, around one minute behind the breakaway.
By doing this, the Brazilian secured the team’s tenth success of the year and one of the biggest in the history of our feeder squad. In addition to Bravo’s yellow jersey, the fantastic collective effort of our young wolves put Soudal Quick-Step Devo at the top of the team classification at the end of the challenging four-day race.
It has been an incredible week of racing here in Italy!
- Henrique Bravo -
“Today we stayed calm and rode an intelligent race. We didn’t make any mistakes, the entire squad did a perfect job on the climbs and I am proud of them. The other GC guys attacked me, but I had the legs to respond and follow them until the finish. I can’t believe what I have just achieved and what a season I’ve had so far. It feels amazing to win such an important race, but I know all this was possible only thanks to the support of this team. It makes me very happy to be here”, said Henrique - only the third South American rider to win Giro della Valle d’Aosta - who was joined in the top ten overall by his Soudal Quick-Step Devo teammate Gauthier Servranckx.
Photo credit: ©Giro della Valle d'Aosta
