A few races remain on the Bahrain Victorious calendar before the curtain comes down on the 2022 season. The team will participate in two prestigious Italian races this week: Gran Piemonte, taking place tomorrow, and the last Classic Monument of this year, Il Lombardia, on Saturday.
Both races will see the same lineup competing but with different strategies, as the two race courses feature differing characteristics.
The 106th edition of Gran Piemonte, 198km from Omegna to Beinasco, nearby Turin, has a partly hilly route that will suit both sprinters and finisseurs. Starting from the lake of Orta, the peloton will face a first 38km of ups and downs, followed by a mostly flat route until the final 70km.
At km 130 will come the most demanding section of the day: il Pilonetto climb, on the famous Collina di Superga, a 10km length ascent at 4.2 per cent. Then the last short climb of the day, at 47km to go, finished with a flat road for the sprinters to chase back if dropped on the climbs.
“Seeing this course, it’s more a sprinter race,” Bahrain Victorious sports director Roman Kreuziger says. “But it can be open to different opportunities, and we have a strong squad that mainly rode together a large part of the season. The key climb of the day can be harsh for the pure sprinters, but there can be plenty of time to get back. We don’t have any pure sprinters in our lineup, so we need to take advantage of other opportunities to turn the race in our favour.
Our leader will be Matej Mohorič, who is getting back in good shape and has just won the CRO Race GC. The final a bit technical can suit him well, and everyone knows how he can be surprising”.
The Gran Piemonte will be the warm-up ahead of Il Lombardia, which takes place two days after.
The ‘Classic of Dead Leaves’ will see this year the 253km route unfolding from Bergamo to Como, respecting the alternation between the two cities as start and finish locations. The 116th edition of the last Monument of 2022 will feature several climbs after the beginning when the riders hit the ascents in the Prealps around Bergamo.
But the decisive part of the race is expected to be the last explosive 60km with the traditional climb of Madonna del Ghisallo (with gradients up to 14pc) and a series of ascents in the final 22km circuit: San Fermo della Battaglia, Civiglio and a second final climb on San Fermo before descending to Como lakefront and crossing the traditional finish.
Leading Bahrain Victorious is Mikel Landa, who will be back to racing to Gran Piemonte after La Vuelta.
“Mikel has worked well in the past few weeks, and he will use the Classic race on Thursday to warm up ahead of his tenth appearance on Il Lombardia,” Bahrain Victorious sports director Alberto Volpi explains. “We aim to take a podium result. Therefore we will be focused as if it were the first Monument of the season, not the conclusive one.
We want to race it aggressively. All the guys participating in this race are in great shape. Damiano Caruso showed his strong legs recently at CRO Race, where he supported the leaders. On Saturday, he will be our joker, while Matej Mohorič will have the role of road captain.”
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