Enric Mas wins Giro de Emilia ahead of Pogacar, Pozzovivo and Valverde

This preparation race for the next October 8 memorial, ‘Lombardy‘ focused on Alejandro Valverde, who came second in the Agostoni Cup and will end his career with the monument in question, and Pogacar, the two-time Tour de France champion, as the biggest candidates to crown this 198.7 km distance. Carpi and San Luca.

However, it was Mas who challenged the giant Pogacar at one of the most prestigious peaks in Italian cycling. San Luca ShrineA lap where he crowned the 2.2 km climb with double-digit ramps and made up to five times in a final circuit that started forty kilometers from the finish line.

The start of the race was very calm. With a high average speed of about 47 km/h due to the first line travel, first group outing the initials responsible for Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Rick Pluimers (Jumbo-Visma), Johan Meens (Bingoal Pauwels), Jacopo Guarnieri (Groupama-FDJ) and Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), which folds seamlessly into two sizes, Ca’ Bortolami (87 km) and Medelana (km 127) are taller than the single and final elevation.

It was in the last kilometersespecially when they reach the final half, when the peloton, who is at a disadvantage of up to three minutes, suddenly begins to cut seconds off the deserters who fall one by one.

Goossens, who stood alone at the front, resisted the most. in the absence of 30kmbut the peloton led by UAE and Movistar Team caught it after 10km.

The critical part of the race started at that moment. The UAE and Movistar measured each other for several kilometers until the Italian Formolo ramped up and split the peloton with a group of 25 non-French riders who followed him. Julian Alaphilippe was lost in the race.

Formolo did his part as a rabbit for his partner, Pogacar, and less than 10 km to cross the finish line, With one more lap on the track, the intense duel between Pogacar and Enric Mas began.

The Spanish attacked, but the Slovenian resisted the attack. 27-year-old Movistar caught off guard at biker initiative. A group of seven, with Valverde behind them, was creeping along. They could do little against the speed imposed by the leaders.

The following group was then reduced to three in the final section of the route, when the legs began to fail after three consecutive climbs of the ramps reaching 18%. They stayed strong Colombian Urán, Italian Pozzovivo and Valverde, The leader managed to get dangerously close to the couple and gave them numerical superiority for the Movistar Team.

Five pilots endured almost one by one until Mas signed the final attack with 2km left. Fresh pedaled lightly and after almost five hours took control of Slovenia, who tried to keep up but had to contend for second place with Pozzovivo in the final meters.

A two-time runner-up in the Vuelta España with a time of 4 hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds, Mas took the crown from Slovenian Primoz Roglic and was declared champion on the Italian soil of this Giro de Emilia 2022, the ‘prep test for’. Il Lombardía, the last monument to Alejandro Valverde, which will be removed after the tour is complete.

The second Pogacar crossed the finish line 13 seconds later. Pozzovivo third and Valverde fourth.