Alberto Bettiol he will go to the Tour de France dressed in the Tricolore. In fact, a few kilometers from home, the Tuscan runner won the Italian Championship 2024, arriving in Sesto Fiorentino alone and raising his special Cannondale to the sky, created specifically for this event after his 10 years of collaboration with the American brand. Bettiol made the difference in the last climb of Monte Morello, breaking away Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty) e Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious), with whom he attacked with more than 50 km to go and then finished second and third respectively.
THE RACE – As usual in the Italian championship road race it is difficult to keep the race under control. It is no coincidence that the escape had to wait around 80 km to take off. In the end, 15 of them set off: Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Davide Baldaccini, Alessandro Monaco, Samuele Zambelli (Corratec-Vini Fantini), Filippo Conca (Q36.5), Mirco Maestri (Polti Kometa), Federico Biagini , Lorenzo Conforti, Alessandro Tonelli, Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Michael Belleri (Hopplà-Petroli Firenze-Don Camillo), Giovanni De Carlo, Andrea Guerra (Zalf Euromobil Fior), Filippo Tagliani (Vini Monzon – Sofer Savini Due – OM), Matteo Zurlo (UC Trevigiani).
However, the agreement between these soon broke down Tonelli he attacked 80 km from the finish, as soon as he entered the final circuit of Sesto Fiorentino. The race exploded 60 km from the finish, when they dropped back onto Tonelli Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious), Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty), Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech) e Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), left the group. On the third pass from Monte Morello, however, first Tonelli and then Frigo broke away, while Bettiol returned to the lead.
Bettiol, Rota, Zambanini and Zoccarato maintained an advantage of around 20″ for several kilometers over a group including Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Gianluca Brambilla (Q36.5) , Giulio Pellizzari, Filippo Fiorelli, Filippo Magli and Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Difesa), Alessandro De Marchi, Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla), Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Giovanni Aleotti (Bora-hansgrohe) and Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates).
The gap remained unchanged until the start of the last climb, when Zoccarato immediately lost contact and Bettiol also freed himself from Rota and Zambanini, flying alone towards the finish line. Behind them, Ciccone and Formolo reacted late, finding themselves forced to fight for places.
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ORDER OF ARRIVAL
1. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost)
2. Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty)
3. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious)
4. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)
5. Davide Formolo (Movistar)
6. Giovanni Aleotti (Bora-hansgrohe)
7. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
8. Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan)
9. Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè)
10. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates)
