Preview: Gran Piemonte 2023 – All eyes on Wout van Aert?

Julian doubled over •
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 7:50 am

The match at Gran Piemonte will be the last match in which Wout van Aert will participate before the Clay Court World Cup in Veneto on Sunday. In the Piedmont region, the Belgian receives a specially designed Jumbo-Visma training course. Is he still gaining some confidence after just over 150km of racing? Cycling Looking forward.

date

The Italian Autumn Classics are among the oldest cycling races on the calendar. This is no different for Gran Piemonte. The race has been around since 1906. This makes the race only one year younger than the Monument Tour of Lombardi.

In the early decades, almost all of Italy’s cycling greats won the Giro del Piemonte, as the race was then called. Just look: Costante Girardengo, Gino Bartali, Fiorenzo Magni (all three times) and Alfredo Binda (twice) were the best in this race.

Only from the 1960s onwards did the Belgians begin to participate in the battle for victory. Willy Poocklant was first in 1964, followed by Eddy Merckx (1972) and Roger de Vlaeminck (1977). Only in this millennium will Belgium win the Gran Piemonte again, with Nico Matin (2001), Philippe Gilbert (2009 and 2010) and Jan Bakelants (2015).

Bakelantis’ victory in 2015 was very special. After a big early breakaway including Timo Rosen being caught seven kilometers from the finish, a sprint seemed inevitable. While the speed trains were organizing themselves, Bakelantis attacked. The East Flemish surprised the peloton and managed to hold on in the pouring rain. Matteo Trentin won the sprint from the peloton and finished just four seconds behind Bakelantis, who could not believe he had won. The driver was at his best at the time, because eight days later he also won the Giro del Emilia.

Two Dutchmen have won this race: Adri van der Poel in 1987 and Erik Bruinck in 1992.

The last ten winners Gran Piemonte
2022: Ivan Garcia Cortina
2021: Matthew Walls
2020: George Bennett
2019: Egan Bernal
2018: Sonny Colbrelli
2017: Fabio Aru*
2016: Giacomo Nizzolo
2015: Jan Bakelants
2014: It was not held due to financial problems
2013: It was not held due to financial problems

*Aru became Italian champion in the Gran Piemonte tournament, which was not held in the original history.

Latest edition

Iván García Cortina won the Grand Prix of Piemonte last year. The Spaniard from Movistar was fastest in the largely thin peloton after nearly two hundred kilometers of racing. Matej Mohoric and Alexis Vuillermoz were allowed to join the Spaniard on the podium.

A large number of runners had already fallen behind midway through the race, including Olaf Kooij, Caden Groves, Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish. Due to the hard work of teams like Movistar Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert, they were unable to return for the remainder of the race, meaning a small group was allowed to race to victory in Peñasco.

Peter Seri tried in the last five kilometres, but was sent back. García then sprinted away to take his first win with Movistar in nearly two years (!).

hasty Gran Piemonte 2022
1. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar)
2. Matej Mohorek (Mutaser Bahrain)
3. Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies)
4. Edoardo Zampanini (Bahrain Victorious)
5. Alberto Bitiol (EF Education-EasyPost)

Effect

As the name of the race suggests, the Gran Piemonte route passes through the Italian region of Piedmont, located in the northwest of the country. Turin is the largest city in the region, but it is no longer the beginning or end location of Gran Piemonte.

This year’s tour begins in Borgofranco d’Ivri, about sixty kilometers north of Turin. Compared to 2022, the 2023 Gran Piemonte is much more challenging, even though this year’s race is “only” 152 kilometers long. The chance of this race leading to a sprint doesn’t seem that great.

The opening stage of Gran Piemonte remains flat. For the first sixty kilometers of the race, the peloton mainly travels up the valley towards Valbagno, where it turns northwest towards the small Italian town of Favria. The finish will also be here after a 152 km race.

After the first pass through Vavria after 78 kilometers, the peloton makes a big loop through the challenging hills surrounding Vavria. You have to complete a total of four climbs, one of which reaches almost 1,000 metres.

The first hill in the final is Coleretto Castelnuovo (7.1 km, 3.4%). This is the easiest climb of the day, although there are some steeper sections of about 9 percent in the final kilometers. This is followed by a short descent of 3.5 km in the direction Faiallo (5.1 km, 5.4 percent). This climb is also irregular, with a gradient of 14 percent. Climbers probably won’t wake up from this.

Subordinate the house (4.9 km at 9 percent) Probably yes. This climb starts about 35 kilometers from the finish. The match will probably blow up here. With sections of 17 percent, Alpette is the climb par excellence to make a difference. Prascorsano (4.4 km at 3.4%) immediately after that can be considered a dessert, after which another seventeen descending kilometers follow towards the finish in Favria.

Thursday 5 October: Borgofranco d’Ivrea – Favria (152 km)

Begins: 12.40
He finishes: Between 4:10 pm and 4:35 pm

Favorite

We find almost all WorldTeams in the list of participants in Gran Piemonte. Only French world teams will miss this match, with the exception of Cofidis. A few days before the Tour of Lombardy, the race organization seems to be able to count on an excellent field of participants.

One of the most striking names is Woot Fan Art. The Belgian from Jumbo-Visma finished his season in Italy with the Copa Bernocchi, Tre Valli Varesine, Gran Piemonte and the Gravel World Cup. He won the Bernocchi Trophy on Monday, so the form is good. In principle, the Gran Piemonte cycle should suit Van Aert well. If he is released at Alpette, Van Aert still has plenty of time to return. Whenever there is a fast race, he will undoubtedly be one of the fastest drivers in attendance.

The list of Gran Piemonte participants is still far from complete at the time of publication. Once the start menu is complete, the Favorites section will be further completed.

Favorites according to WielerFlits
It will be added later.

Site organization
List of participants (ProCyclingStats)

Weather and TV

The weather in Gran Piemonte is looking good at the moment. according to Weatheronline The temperature on Thursday will be around 25 degrees and will remain dry throughout the day. The peloton won’t have much to fear from the wind. The northwesterly wind blows at moderate speed (wind force 2). The match will be broadcast live via Eurosport.nl/Discovery+/GCN+ From 2:50 p.m. Eurosport 1 Then it also broadcasts the price.