Jayco AlUla's Alessandro Covi gets revenge on his old UAE team at the Giro del Veneto

The Tour of Lombardy always seems to mark the end of the Italian fall, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Veneto region, in particular, still organises a few races here and there. The Veneto Classic is the traditional finale, but the Giro del Veneto takes place before that event. This one-day race has been around for over a hundred years and features an interesting route.

The hilly circuit in Vicenza has actually been a staple for several years now, with the exception of last year: that race finished in Verona, with Isaac Del Toro taking the win. But once back in Vicenza, the fast riders with strong climbing legs saw their chances. Dorian Godon and Corbin Strong had both previously won on that tough, uphill finish stretch.

But a sprint isn't always guaranteed. The early breakaway wasn’t going to amount to much: it consisted of eight Italians, mostly from the lower racing tiers. We did spot Riccardo Lorella there, though—the young rider who will be racing for the UAE development team next year. But the peloton was fine with it and gave them space.

Once the race reached the final lap in Vicenza, the pace became increasingly erratic. That’s when UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control, thanks to Pavel Sivakov and António Morgado. As a result, the breakaway riders were caught with more than forty kilometers to go. It was up to the Emirati team to dictate the pace of the race. With one lap to go, the race was all but decided.

It was world champion Brandon McNulty who picked up the pace. He caused a split in the pack, but Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), among others, were able to keep up. So the race settled down a bit again, after which one breakaway followed another. It was the Swiss riders Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Fabio Christen (Pinarello-Q36.5) who managed to make a breakaway.

However, they were caught off guard by McNulty, who had switched roles to become a domestique, working for Benoît Cosnefroy. The final stretch was quite steep. There, it was Alessandro Covi (Jayco AlUla) who made his move early—too early, it seemed. Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) and Cosnefroy were right on his wheel, but the Italian didn’t let up and, surprisingly, took the win.