The final stage of the Venetian Cycling Week took place this morning in the city of Mel, covering a race of 195.7 km, which was raced on two local circuits.
One of the circuits had a 12.6 km route with the climb to La Rosina (2.6 km at 6.3%). The other circuit was 12.4 km with a short but very tough cobblestone climb to La Tisa. Both loops were to be completed four times, followed by the Diesel Farm (1.2 km at 11%, peaking at 14%) and Contra Soarda (400 meters at 10.3%) in the final kilometers.
Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), and Michael Belleri (Biesse-Carrera) formed the leading group of the day.
After being caught by the chasers, the front group increased to six riders with 25 km to go, although the peloton was just 22 seconds behind them. With 21 km remaining, the peloton completed the catch, and the race resumed.
As the race exited the public roads and entered the private grounds of Diesel Farm, Filippo Zana attacked and quickly started to distance himself from all his rivals, only followed by Marc Hirschi.
On the descent, Hirschi managed to join Zana at the front, and the duo soon merged with Davide Formolo. They were only about 10 seconds ahead of their pursuers, but with two cyclists from UAE Team Emirates, Zana suddenly found himself in a difficult situation, with attacks and counter-attacks from the duo.
Zana couldn’t respond to Formolo’s attack, which allowed Formolo to enter the final kilometer alone. From there, there was no stopping the Italian, and with Hirschi competing with Zana, a one-two finish for the UAE Team Emirates happened.
Watch Davide Formolo’s victory:
Results of the Veneto Classic 2023:
