Giro dell'Emilia

Another hard edition of the Giro dell’Emilia

It’s not part of the World Tour calendar, but that hasn’t stopped the Giro dell’Emilia from becoming one of the most spectacular and popular races thanks to the presence of San Luca, the short but steep and scenic climb that made its debut in cycling almost seven decades ago, when the legendary Charly Gaul was the first to conquer it at the Corsa Rosa.

Soudal Quick-Step was one of the twenty-five teams at the start, and our squad tried to anticipate with Fausto Masnada, who attacked the third time up the San Luca. The Italian did a great descent, putting around fifteen seconds between him and the peloton, but the chasers were much too strong and reeled him in.

The insane tempo pushed at the front of the bunch thinned out the group with every kilometer, and by the time they began the final climb, only nine men were still in the lead. From there, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) surged to victory, while Andrea Bagioli concluded as the highest-placed Soudal Quick-Step rider.

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images