Karlijn Swinkels denied breakaway glory at Tre Valli Varesine, but her teammate made up for it

Eleonora Camilla Gasparini (UAE) won the 2026 Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday. She emerged as the best rider in a thinned-out peloton after her teammate Karlijn Swinkels was caught in the final kilometre.

Before the race started, we saw the traditional 'wheels up' parade for 4 retiring riders: Sofia Bertizzolo (FDJ United Suez), Alexis Magner (EF Education Oatly), Claire Steels (Movistar Team), and Amanda Spratt (Lidl Trek).

Three time Santos Women's Tour winner Spratt was the biggest name to hang up her wheels today. A runner up at the World Championships and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2018, the Lidl-Trek Aussie has been a constant presence in the women's peloton for 14 years.

We didn’t see a true breakaway group in this beautiful autumn race, the final stretch didn't open up until about 45 kilometers from the finish. Swinkels initiated that move and was joined by Kraak and Loes Adegeest, among others, while Visma | Lease a Bike and EF Education-EasyPost led the peloton.

Swinkels, who was in great form, picked up the pace even more and took Nikola Noskova of Cofidis with her, while Kraak and Adegeest set off in pursuit alongside Movistar rider Aude Biannic.

On the day’s final categorized climb, there were all-or-nothing attacks from the peloton, including one by De Vries. She was joined by other contenders, such as her teammate Sarah van Dam, as well as Silvia Persico (UAE) and Noemi Ruëgg (EF).

Swinkels noticed that the elite group was closing in and tried to shake off Noskova, but she clung to the Brabant rider’s wheel. In the end, the pressure from behind proved too much for the leading duo, which was finally caught after 40 kilometers on the attack.

Gasparrini took advantage of that and won, ahead of Van Dam. Third place went to Ruëgg.