Cycling world praises Tudor talent, but UAE sets things straight in Italy

The Trofeo Tessile & Moda was yet another Italian one-day race in these jam-packed weeks, in which UAE Emirates-XRG dominated in the persons of Pogacar and Isaac Del Toro. The team kept its two leaders at home on Sunday, but brought sufficient strength to the start with Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov, Adam Yates, and Pablo Torres.

UAE was challenged by, among others, the strong XDS Astana team, which had Christian Scaroni and Wout Poels with them. Marco Brenner (Tudor) and Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost) were also there. Unibet Tietema Rockets had received a wildcard, but of course did not have a potential winner in their ranks.

Bas Tietema's team had undoubtedly hoped to have a rider at the front, but that was not the case. The leading group of nine did include Sjoerd Bax of Q36.5 and Martin Urianstad of Uno-X, along with a host of lesser gods. With UAE controlling the peloton, the race remained closed for a long time.

As the climb to Oropa loomed, the breakaway's lead was reduced. The 6.7-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 7.9 percent was really for the men from the peloton. And, as expected, UAE immediately got to work. After Urianstad, the last early breakaway rider, was caught, Vine stood on the pedals. He initiated an attack by Sivakov, which Mathys Rondel of Tudor joined.

Surprisingly, the 22-year-old Frenchman was stronger than Sivakov, who was perhaps still feeling the effects of his efforts in the Tour of Lombardy. And so UAE had to switch gears. Adam Yates got on his pedals and quickly closed in on Rondel's wheel. They had a nice lead over four chasers, with Vine, Sivakov, Scaroni, and the surprising Sergio Geovani Chumil (Burgos).

Yates logically wanted to get rid of Rondel 2.5 kilometers from the top, but Rondel defended himself bravely. And so another UAE rider came up from behind, in the form of Vine. However, the Australian was unable to catch up, mainly because Rondel increased the pace and wanted to finish it off man-to-man. And so it became a sprint-á-deux on the cobbles of Oropa.