Tadej Pogacar more than delivers on his promise to Italian race organizers

After the double European Championships in Emilia, a large part of the peloton came together again on Tuesday for the Tre Valli Varesine, the next in line of prestigious Italian fall classics. As a result, Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogacar - who kept their promise to return after last year's canceled edition - were back in their UAE Emirates-XRG jerseys, while riders such as Primoz Roglic, Ben Healy, Tom Pidcock, and Julian Alaphilippe were also looking forward to the race.

After Elisa Longo Borghini beat Demi Vollering in the women's race in the morning, the men were allowed to start their race. From the start, five riders were given a blessing from the peloton, namely: AJ August (INEOS Grenadiers), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), and Kevin Colleoni of Intermarché-Wanty.

As expected, UAE Emirates-XRG took control of the large group, where, 80 kilometers from the finish, some riders launched counterattacks to stay ahead of the big explosions. Among them was Egan Bernal of INEOS Grenadiers, who replaced teammate August in the race's leading group.

The departing Gianluca Brambilla (Q36.5) and Michael Storer (Tudor) also played their cards early, but UAE was not particularly concerned. Rafal Majka maintained the pace for leaders Pogacar and Del Toro, who were alert to attacks from Sepp Kuss and Ben Healy, among others.

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) managed to break away and make the crossing to Bernal just before the leaders started there. Del Toro went first, after which it took a while for Pogacar to close the gap and get the engine started.

With 20 kilometers to go, the Slovenian launched his attack. This time not on the climb, but on the descent. Simmons put up some resistance, but Pogacar quickly built up a big lead and was able to coast relatively comfortably in northern Italy. Behind him, the peloton came back together again.

Tom Pidcock took the initiative several times and ended up in a group with Del Toro, Roglic, Toms Skujins, Gianmarco Garofoli, and Ben Tulett. Just before the final climb, however, the peloton caught up again, leaving the battle for the remaining podium places wide open. In the end, those places went to Alaphilippe and Lidl-Trek youngster Albert Withen Philipsen.